Sly Fox
by Paper.Tanuki
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki, renowned psychopathic murderer hides himself behind happy eyes and a innocent, bright smile. The police after him say he's like a fox, sly, and not easy to catch. But what happens when a bystander who gets caught in the wrong place and wrong time also catches his eye? Eventual NaruGaa. (Don't read past Chapter Three - still being edited)
1. Shall we dance?

**Sly Fox**

Chapter One: _Shall we dance?_

* * *

"The police are still searching for murderer Naruto Uzumaki. Unfortunately, no one has ever seen him completely without going insane, and has proven to have begged Uzumaki to kill them." The reporter gave a visible shudder before continuing as steadily as she could. "We only know his name. Mysteriously, all past records of him have been destroyed or missing." The news reporter said gravely, as a supposed picture of a blonde man appeared next to her. "Police say that he may be travelling under an unknown alias, but they are certain Uzumaki whisker-like markings on his face, that may be tattoos. He is armed with a cleaver. Make sure if you see someone who matches the descri-"

Gaara Sabaku turned the T.V off after hearing the same words repeated the day before. People didn't need a rerun of the Uzumaki crisis flashing in front of them every time they turned the T.V on to watch the news.

The whole city was in a frenzy when a past murderer by the name of Naruto Uzumaki suddenly began to kill people again. There was no connection between each murder, except he always left them with three whisker-like cuts on their cheeks, similar to his own.

Gaara sighed to himself and went to his kitchen to get himself a cup of coffee. He had work at midnight and he couldn't get a murderer to stop him. He needed that money to pay off his landlord, or else he would probably get evicted. But then again, he only needed to pay only a quarter of it, which wasn't too bad.

Finding that the coffee wasn't working, he went to the bathroom to wash his face. He looked at his reflection. His hair was a blood red that was spiky and slightly fell over his eyes. The tattoo of the kanji 'ai' rested just above where his eye left eyebrow was supposed to be. He had the tattoo done in his younger, rebellious years. Apparently, having a facial tattoo made people assume _he_ was Uzumaki. He often sighed when they stared after him and on one occasion threatening to call the police if he didn't stop loitering in front of a restaurant, but then realizing a murderer wouldn't just walk around the city- or wait outside a restaurant- like a regular person, and that Uzumaki had whisker markings on his cheeks, not a bloody kanji on his forehead. Gaara shook his head. Reflecting on these things always gave him a headache. And insomnia. The dark rings around his eyes from said insomnia made his pale green eyes even paler. His skin was pale as well from lack of going outdoors. After all, he _did_ work in a funeral parlor.

There were always dead bodies waiting to be embalmed in the funeral parlor (and shipped off to their families, but there were more now, thanks to Uzumaki. It seemed the funeral parlor he worked at happened to be the only one in the city that had accepted taking in Uzumaki's victims, and it happened to be that it was somewhat close to the police headquarters. So now the basement of the quaint, quiet parlor had become a sort of 'Uzumaki's Victims Morgue'.

_Thanks for making my life even worse._ Gaara thought bitterly to Uzumaki, going back to finish his coffee. He searched around his small apartment for his phone, and when eventually finding it, shoved it into his coat pocket and quickly left his apartment. Running down the stairs -because the elevator took forever to go up or down-, he had just over ten minutes to spare. He lived on the third floor, which wasn't _too_ bad. He felt extremely sorry for the people at the top floor.

Unfortunately, Gaara did not own or know how to drive a car, so his only option was to either take the bus or walk. Taking a bus was a big no-no at midnight, due to most of the passengers being drunk or on a high from late-night partying in a club. The majority of the partying people were university students, and in Gaara's humble opinion should be spending the time to study. They were extremely lucky to be accepted into a university; he himself had given up applying for one, basically because he couldn't think of what course to take.

When Gaara finally reached the funeral parlor -it wasn't that far away, about ten minutes walk if the traffic wasn't being a fucker- he was greeted with the familiar smell of chemicals and the voice of Sasori, his boss and also his cousin, telling him he had barely made it in time before the disinfectants wore off and the corpse would begin to smell.

"You're the only one here today." Sasori stated as Gaara trudged to the metal table. "You okay, little cuz'?"

Gaara grunted and swapped his dark-red trench coat for the sterilized white lab coat. After the usual routine of washing his hands and pulling on the gloves then donning on the mask and apron, he sighed and took his position on the other side of the table. The body in front of him was just a normal one, not one of Uzumaki's victims. Thank God. Uzumaki's victims often didn't look human after he was done with them.

"The others have already scrubbed and disinfected this one, so we don't have to do too much." Sasori said, obviously attempting to lighten up the mood. Gaara nodded. Sasori lifted the cloth partially off the body to reveal an old man. Gaara had read the autopsy report in the morning; died from old age, nothing too flash.

Sasori looked at him with concern in his eyes as he grabbed some wool while Gaara lifted the eyelids and turned his gaze away from the shriveled orbs. Sasori gently prodded the wool into the sockets, then deciding to speak up, causing Gaara to flinch slightly. "That Uzumaki murderer thing bothering you?"

Gaara sighed, delicately picking up a gun that resembled a hypodermic syringe filled with formaldehyde and injected it into gums as his cousin pulled back the cheek and upper lip. "He's just a nuisance. I wonder if he ever considers where all the bodies go after he's done playing with them. Does he even know that people have to clean up his mess?"

"Be careful, Gaara. You don't know who might be listening." Sasori warned as he took the gun and quickly did the lower jaw as well.

Gaara rolled his eyes and continued to treat the body with Sasori. His cousin threaded a wire through both of the jaws to keep them closed while Gaara stepped back slightly and watched. He never really liked touching the body after it was dead. Sasori gave a little sigh as Gaara apprehensively pulled both arms from the old man's chest and fixed up the legs so they were straight.

Sasori handed Gaara the scalpel, nudging him slightly for encouragement. "Make sure it's nice and neat." Gaara swallowed and made a shallow, bloodless incision into the hollow of the old man's neck, then neatly placed it back on the table; it felt odd now, cutting up a body like Uzumaki did. He wasn't affected much by it, but it was the lingering feeling in his fingers that worried him slightly.

"Good." Sasori stated, inserting a small metal hook into the hole and extracting an artery and a vein before knotting some string around each one. Then, he made quick little cuts into both, making sure not to go all the way through. "Get the pump ready."

Gaara compliedand pushed the pump next to the table and inserted the cannula into artery and the drain pipe into the vein. The drain pipe was attached to clear tubing that connected to the drain in the floor. Gaara made sure to tighten the strings around the artery and vein and earned an approving nod from Sasori.

_'What the hell am I doing with my life?' _Gaara thought as he connected the main hose to the cannula in the artery. He stepped back and swiped quickly at the red hair falling in front of his eyes. The smell of rotting meat hidden by strong disinfectant followed his hand. He wrinkled his nose when it became stronger. _'Why couldn't I have gotten a 'normal' job?'_

Sasori watched his cousin from the table. He gave an inward sigh when the scowl on the younger's face deepened. "Hey Gaara?" He received a grunt in response. "Can you get the anti-coagulant?" He let out a quick curse when Gaara threw him the bottle and an audible sigh of relief when it the bottle remained nestled in his slippery gloves. Shooting a warning look at his cousin, he poured the chemical into the tank on top of the pump. Screwing the top back on, he threw the bottle back and smirked when Gaara cursed and barely caught it before it hit him. "Next time, don't throw it." Sasori chided.

Pushing the button, the pump gave a start and copied the sound of a heartbeat as Sasori checked the knobs that controlled the pressure and speed. Gaara watched silently and muttered a quiet, "It's working." as the thick, dark blood was dragged into the drain.

Sasori gave a quick glance at Gaara and motioned him to take over. Gaara sighed and slouched over and handed his cousin a conditioner. Sasori sighed as well and poured it in and stood back, arms crossed, to let Gaara do some of the work himself. After all, he didn't pay him for nothing. Making sure Gaara poured the actual embalming fluid in the right order, Sasori ticked off his mental checklist and nodded when Gaara finished by adding the special perfume to cover the corpse's odor. Gaara slammed the lid down and followed Sasori to the next room, because it was too dangerous with all the chemicals inside.

Sasori kept the door slightly ajar and placed two plastic chairs close by so that they were facing the room to make sure when they sat down, the pump wouldn't regurgitate it's contents onto the floor -which it had once, and caused the whole place to stink of decaying matter and strong chemicals- in a silent and deadly matter. He took his gloves off and removed the mask, breathing in the slightly cleaner air. "Tea?" he asked Gaara, who nodded in reply.

Gaara watched Sasori disappear into another room and wearily sat down on one of the hard, plastic chairs. He too, had removed his gloves and mask, which were extremely uncomfortable.

"Expect payment in a few days." Sasori said to him as he re-entered the room holding two steaming cups of green tea. Gaara gratefully nodded and took the cup and sipped the scalding beverage. "I'll let you take a break for a week, okay? You look like you need it."

Gaara smiled appreciatively, but even Sasori could tell it was slightly forced. He had known Gaara ever since they were kids. And so he knew almost every emotion his cousin had, even if he was blank most of the time. He was only eight years older, but he had harbored a sort of 'parental' feeling towards him ever since… 'that' happened. Heck, Gaara was still a little kid in his eyes. If he ever called Gaara a little kid, he was sure to get a sock in the mouth and the familiar reminder of: "Sasori, for the last time, I'm twenty years old." But technically Gaara, his younger cousin, was still a 'little kid'.

"How's life, Sasori?" Gaara muttered as he blew on the tea. He wasn't usually the one to do small-talking, but the silence was becoming extremely awkward. And he felt he as if he was drifting away from his cousin. He didn't exactly want that, he owed Sasori a _lot_. It'd be a jerk-like thing to do to just blow him off.

Sasori started at his name and gave his younger cousin a small smile. "It's alright, I guess. The neighbourhood's really quaint as it's always been, but it gets rather lonely sometimes." He turned to Gaara and frowned. "Are you sure you want to live by yourself in that horrible apartment? You could always move in with me again."

Gaara declined the offer. He remembered how ecstatic he had been when Sasori begrudgingly let him move out. He suddenly had felt free, not tied down to anything. It was just his own problem that he didn't exactly have the right amount of money to rent the fanciest apartment in the city, but the one he lived in now was good enough, although it was a bit small and dirty. He really should clean it someday. "It's fine." He reassured Sasori. "I'll probably send the electricity and water bills off the charts if I move in with you again. The apartment only requires me to pay rent every month, I don't have to pay for how much water or electricity I use. So relax a bit, it's _fine_, Sasori."

"Aright…" His cousin said doubtfully. "If you say so." He shot Gaara a worried look that was brushed off with a quiet, mild sigh. Sasori glanced at his glow-in-the-dark watch and gave a sigh of his own. "It's getting rather late, Gaara. Or should I say early?" He showed Gaara his watch, who noted that it was almost one-thirty in the morning.

"Nice watch." Gaara said dryly. He wasn't being sarcastic; he just didn't feel very enthusiastic nowadays.

Sasori grinned at him and patted the watch affectionately. "It's amazing, isn't it? Alarm, glows in the dark, and it can even record speech! Technology nowadays."

The younger cousin smiled lightly at the other's energy, and suddenly felt much older. He shrugged it off as him being tired. "Shouldn't we finish the embalming?"

"Our old pump usually takes a while, and I'm pretty sure it won't explode if we go home a bit earlier, hm? We'll check in the morning. It's not like anyone will find out." Sasori said lightly. His cousin shrugged in reply. But he could easily tell that he wanted to eagerly get out of the parlour.

Gaara got up to leave, swapping his lab coat for his trench coat and said goodbye, but then realised it was raining heavily outside. Thunder rolled its way over the city while lightning bore down on the tall buildings. '_Great_. _Just great.'_

Sasori noticed too and reached for his car keys. "I'll drive you home. We might as well lock up now. Besides, I don't want you catching a cold and spraying your pathogens in the parlor."

Gaara declined the offer with a slight scowl at Sasori's teasing. And anyways, he didn't need his cousin to see how his living conditions were and give him money so he could rent a fancier apartment. He hated it when people felt sorry for him. Besides, it wasn't like Sasori was swimming in money. Instead he looked around. "Is it okay if I stay here until the storm lets up?"

Sasori stared at him skeptically. "Here? In the _funeral parlor?_ With _dead bodies?_"

Gaara allowed himself a little smile. "Yeah. Don't worry; I'll lock up after, okay?"

His cousin sighed. He knew there was no point trying to turn his younger cousin's mind. "Fine." He looked sternly at him. "Anything happens, you call me. _Immediately._" Sasori hugged him before leaving and running to his car. By the time he got in, he was already soaked. '_I hope he's going to be okay'._ He started the car and began to drive to his home.

Gaara, on the other hand, wished he had taken Sasori's offer. He had never actually stayed overnight; this was his first time. '_How does Sasori do it?' _The funeral parlor was cold and the fact that there were dead bodies lying around in the basement under him weren't doing anything to help him. Especially when a few of them happened to be Uzumaki's victims, his defaced, broken, poor, poor victims.

_'Screw it. I'm just going to go back. This place doesn't feel right.' _Gaara got up to leave, giving the place one last look before forcing himself into the rain. '_Bad idea.'_

The rain was so heavy; he could barely see his hand, which he was currently waving in front of his face. Gaara realised he had locked the funeral parlor from the inside and Sasori had the other keys, so there was no way he could go back in there without breaking the door down and setting off the alarm. He ended up sullenly taking refuge in a covered alleyway. The shops were all closed and if he tried to open the door, no doubt he would be arrested for 'forced entry' and set off another bloody alarm.

Gaara slumped against the wet brick wall as he checked the time on his phone. _1:47 am._ And it was still dark. There was no sound except the pattering of the rain and flickering bulb of the lamp post; not even the occasional car shooting past, or the sound of walkers. And he was in the bloody _city_. Where the hell were all of them? Drunkards and drug dealers and loud adults from nightclubs? Where were they all? It wasn't a public holiday was it? The redhead snarled at his inability to remember public holidays. Christmas was important, Labor Day too. They were the important ones. Oh, and New Years. That brought Gaara's count to an amazing three.

_'I'm not sleeping here. I'd get murdered.'_ Gaara thought to himself with no humor. '_But a car might hit me if I try and cross the street, so I'm just gonna stay here and get hypothermia'._ The rain _was_ making it difficult to see anything, let alone a car streaking down the seemingly abandoned and empty street. The lamp post's light was flickering eerily, but even then, it was extremely hard to see it.

After a few minutes passed and the temptation of the clear road was too much to bear. Gaara decided he would try to get back to his apartment. After all, it was only a few minutes away, and there was practically _no_ traffic whatsoever. He growled when the flickering light offered him a tempting view of the empty, rain-slicked road. There weren't even any cars parked along the sides of the road. The traffic light switched to green and absolutely no cars came forward. Maybe if he ran? But what if it was one of those bad luck shit that happened in the movies? What if he actually ran for it, and got hit by a big-ass motherfucking Hummer? What if?

The redhead pushed away the pessimistic thoughts and stood up, ready to leave, when a figure walked into the alleyway. It was walking towards him. Slowly. So slowly.

Gaara could see something glint in its hand.

It was a cleaver.

* * *

_Hi there guys. It's been a while. Anyways, thanks for sticking with me. _

_Uh... I haven't actually finished editing all the chapters yet, only up to Chapter Three, so I'd advise you not to read Chapters Four and so forth. It doesn't join up if you do, so yeah._

_I'm an impatient person, so I was like: Whatever, just give them some entertainment while you type like a mad person._

_And thanks a lot to TigrezzTail, for letting me know that apparently this system won't let you review the same chapter twice, so if you would like to tell me something, just PM it to me, and I guarantee I'll reply._

_So what are you waiting for? Go and read up to Chapter Three (And Chapter Three only.)_


	2. Into the Abyss

**Sly Fox**

Chapter Two: _Into the Abyss_

* * *

Gaara saw the cleaver before he saw the face.

He couldn't look at anything else, just the cleaver that glinted maliciously in the half-light provided by flickering lampposts.

After the figure started to get closer, Gaara's instinct to run kicked in. But he couldn't. His legs were stuck to the wet ground, as if it was quicksand, dragging him down slowly into the pits of Hell. He couldn't move. He could only stare at the cleaver clutched loosely in the figure's hand as it got closer.

_Tmp._

_Tmp._

_Tmp._

_Tmp._

"My, my, what do we have here?"

The figure spoke, causing Gaara to flinch and keep his pale eyes glued to the ground. The voice was deceivingly young and masculine. Innocent, even. He couldn't be much older then Gaara himself. Memories of the news report crashed into his mind. _Was this…?_

"Hey now. Don't look so scared." The figure laughed, as he got closer.

Gaara looked at his feet and closed his eyes, willing it to just some twisted dream his imagination had thrown at him. After hearing the footsteps get even closer, did he banish the idea it was a dream. He wanted to run, but running would probably make this person chase after him and no doubt kill him. He couldn't move anyway. Might as well stay still and hope that this was just some drunk who had gotten his hands on a cleaver. Maybe he would just mug him then leave him alone.

Only when the figure was right in front of him, did Gaara look up. The man was taller then him by at least an inch, making him even more intimidating. When the man reached for him, Gaara instinctively took a step back, and brushed against the brick wall behind him. He was trapped.

In a flash, the man grabbed both of Gaara's wrists and squeezed them in a strange way that made both his hands and wrists numb and stinging slightly, like pins-and-needles. It hurt, and rendered his arms immobile. He wouldn't let go of his wrists, even when he wouldn't be able to escape. The man then put his cleaver away, or more like dropped it into his pocket, where it made a quite obvious bulge that would have given everything away, if only the fucking _police_ was here.

The man's foot stomped down hard on Gaara's feet, preventing him from moving much at all. His free hand caressed his face in mock tenderness.

"Oh, you are a pretty one…" the man breathed. Gaara remained frozen. He was even more scared, now that the figure was so close. The man had no smell of alcohol on his breath. Instead, the smell of mints invaded Gaara's nose. So he wasn't drunk. Shit. Maybe this was a prank? Gaara wished it was anything but the 'real' thing.

Suddenly, Gaara felt something vibrate in his pocket. The man noticed as well and dipped his hand into the pocket to extract Gaara's phone.

The man held the phone up to Gaara so he could see the caller I.D. It was Sasori. While the phone was in front of his face, he saw the time was barely past two in the morning. No one was awake. Unless they were insomniacs like himself or getting up for their job.

The man casually accepted the call and put it on speaker. The screen lit up and Gaara could see the man had whisker-like marks on his cheeks. He had tousled blonde hair and bright blue eyes, with unblemished, tan skin. He looked so eerie in the blue glow his phone offered; the man's eyes sparkled in an unnatural way that made him cringe. They glimmered with a sort of intent…

Was this… Naruto Uzumaki?

"Gaara? Sorry to call you this early, but are you still there at the parlor?" Sasori's voice came out from the speaker, breaking Gaara's chain of thoughts. He sounded sincere and tired himself. His cousin knew that he was an insomniac, and had been reminded many times that it was alright to call him, because basically, it was almost impossible to sleep. If Gaara ever escaped his current predicament, he sure as hell wasn't going to sleep _ever_ again.

The man grinned at him, offering him the phone nonchalantly. "Answer your call, Gaara."

Gaara was truly panicking now. He had no option to choose from. If he answered wrong, this man who could be Naruto Uzumaki, would… would… _'Holy shit, I'm going to die.' _ He took a deep breath. "Y-yeah."

"Oh good." Sasori's voice was now laced with relief. "Did you lock the doors, you know, just in case Uzumaki gets in?" Here, it sounded lightly amused. To Gaara now, it was anything but.

"Uh…yes…"

"Are you… okay?"

The man pressed harder onto his foot, making Gaara wince and bite back a cry of pain. "It's just really c-cold, the heater broke down."

"Oh. I thought we'd lost the remote to the heater. Hmm. Stay warm, okay? See you next week, little cuz'. You better be back at your place when I check up tomorrow"

"Yeah, o-okay."

Sasori hung up and the phone dimmed. The man dropped the phone into the opposite pocket on the coat. "You're a very good liar, Gaara."

Gaara remained silent as Uzumaki fished into his own pocket and pulled out the cleaver. It flashed in the meager light, winking dangerously as it came into contact with his cheek. The cold metal tickled as Gaara held his breath as Uzumaki stared into his eyes. "Don't move too much," Uzumaki warned. "I don't want to ruin your pretty face."

"P-please..."

Uzumaki tilted his head thoughtfully as if he was considering Gaara's plea for him to stop. The man's mouth was twisted into a half-smirk that didn't reach his eyes. But the cleaver lay still against his cheek; just the contact made the redhead freeze up completely.

_'Oh God, why… why did I…' _Gaara could feel something squeeze his chest, making it harder for him to breathe. He felt the first tears begin to slip as the cleaver press into his cheek, drawing blood and terrifying pain.

Uzumaki smiled sadly as he pressed the cleaver deeper into the redhead's cheek, and this time, it stung as the cool air whistled past. Gaara would have knocked away the blonde's arm, would have swiped the red fluid off his cheek, would have muttered a curse and stalked off, but the serial killer was too intimidating to push away. Besides, he was armed with a _cleaver_.

Gaara had to act. Uzumaki was going to kill him. The cuts he left on all his victims had been the same, like a signature: three whisker-like cuts on each cheek.

It seemed Uzumaki could read his mind, because he was suddenly spun around and had the cleaver held to his throat. "Why don't we add one here? At least we can cover your neck." Gaara's breath hitched when he pressed his lips to his ear and whispered the same words from before, but this time making his blood run cold. "I don't want to ruin your pretty face."

_'Shit, I'm going to get fucking murdered.' _The redhead panicked and shifted his eyes; he swept over his current location to see if there were any possible escape routes. That was when Gaara noticed he was spun to face the street and that Uzumaki had gotten off his foot and that his wrists were free. He confirmed it by feeling Uzumaki nudge his leg with his knee, and the grip around his wrists were gone, not to mention they weren't all stingy anymore. The murderer even lowered the cleaver. It was like an invitation.

Gaara quickly elbowed Uzumaki in the gut and took off running. Maybe it was actually unintentional, for Uzumaki quickly recovered and grabbed on to Gaara's coat. With no choice left, he shrugged off the coat and tore out onto the streets.

The rain was just letting up and he could see his apartment block was just across the street. With no traffic, he bolted straight to the doors (the receptionist wasn't there) and ran up the stairs as fast as he could to his room. _'They… have to fix that fucking elevator…'_ He mentally snarled as he almost missed a step.

_'Shit.'_ His apartment keys were in his coat pocket. But when he tried the handle, it was unlocked. Thanking whoever was up there for looking out for him, he quickly opened the door and slammed it shut. Jamming the knob with a chair, he rushed to the bathroom to see the damage.

There was no mark on his neck, thank God, but there was one on his cheek. A straight, precise one that was still slightly bleeding. Gaara gave a big sigh of relief that that was all there was, and wiped away his tears and the blood with a shaking hand. He hissed when the water washed over the wound and quickly dried his face with the small towel; small drops of blood staining the once white cloth.

_'Fuck… fucking hell… oh my God… fuck…'_ The redhead cursed as he collapsed on the bathroom floor, breathing hard and at an alarmingly quick pace. He would have call the police if he could, but the only phone he owned was the one Uzumaki probably had now. Hell, he would have called the army or navy, but obviously he didn't have their numbers. And it wasn't like he originally had many people's numbers; besides, he wasn't very good at remembering the complicated sequence of digits that the person would recite in a monotone that made him tune out.

Finally getting himself together, Gaara slowly stood up, only to walk to the living room and collapse on the couch. He couldn't get those eyes out of his head. They were bluer than _any_ blue he had seen in his life, and they had a sort of _knowing_ look, and at the same time, they were clouded with…

Gaara shook his head and closed his eyes, trying to think of _anything_ except Uzumaki… If that _was_ Uzumaki. This was when Gaara frowned and opened his eyes again. The man couldn't have been Uzumaki, the police hadn't said anything about Uzumaki being _here_, in the _city…_ but the police weren't exactly the most reliable people now, when they had failed to catch the blonde man for let's see… _four_ years now. The news reporter had said Uzumaki was found out when he was nineteen, after nine months being in the police force. So Uzumaki was out and around for _four_ years now, with no records of leaving the country, let alone the _city._ _'I bet that I'll be dead before the police can reach me.'_ Gaara thought sullenly as he brushed his fringe out of his eyes and decided to get some fresh air from the window.

At least the window was safe. It wasn't like Uzumaki was Spiderman, and could scale the wall up to the third floor. At this Gaara snorted and unlatched the opening, quietly pulling it up so he wouldn't alert Uzumaki, just in case the murderer was anywhere around and _could_ climb up near vertical walls.

Gaara almost smiled at the thought of Uzumaki dressed up as Spiderman and climbing up into his room and killing him. He scowled when his imagination took control and splattered imaginary blood all over the place. Rolling his eyes, Gaara tentatively stuck his head out, and drew it in triple the speed when he saw… _him…_ outside. Unfortunately, being caught that unawares, he also managed to bash his head against the glass on the way in, and gave a loud _"Fuck!" _which no doubt alerted Uzumaki where he was. The redhead swore again, quieter this time, and slammed the window shut.

Gaara quickly turned away from the window and pulled the curtains over them. Reviewing the previous minutes, Gaara became confused. It couldn't be Uzumaki… right? As if the man would stay right in the open, where anyone could see him, but then Gaara remembered that there wasn't a living soul outside from before, so… _'Fuuuuhhh, I can't… ugh… dammit!'_ He shook his head and decided taking a shower would help him calm down his nerves and pounding head.

Once he was done, he threw his clothes in the hamper and got dressed for bed. Even in his own bed he didn't feel safe. _Maybe I should sleep with a knife… just in case._ One side of his conscience said. _And accidently impale myself if I turn in my sleep? Yeah, GREAT idea._ The other side commented sarcastically.

In the end, Gaara just lay in bed unable to sleep, or move, or do anything. Lying there until morning came, the redhead inwardly laughed at his previous thoughts on if he ever lived from the traumatic experience, he wouldn't sleep again. _'Look at that, I became a psychic.'_ The small bump on his head was throbbing painfully now, and he felt almost nauseas. Deciding it wasn't anything serious- he wasn't vomiting blood or anything-, and slowly pushed himself out of bed to get changed and make some coffee, only to realize that there was none left, including food.

_'Fucking fantastic.'_ He mentally snarled, slamming the cupboard doors as a replacement of screaming in anger out loud. Controlling himself, he sighed and rubbed the lump on his head. '_Note to self, don't _ever_ look out that window again.' _Eventually, the redhead calmed down and settled on the fact he would have to buy breakfast at the coffee shop across the road. Where the alleyway was._ 'Holy shit. What if…?'_

He was interrupted by a knock on his door. _'Shit! It's Uzumaki…'_ Gaara panicked and unconsciously backed away from the door, then deciding that Uzumaki probably wouldn't be polite enough to knock on his door and wait patiently without breaking it down, he opened it slightly. He instantly regretted it as he felt heart thud to the ground. He froze and stared back at the bright blue eyes. "…Please… don't kill me…"

The blonde chuckled and pushed the door open but was stopped by Gaara throwing his entire weight against it. Uzumaki managed to jam his foot into the gap and stop the door from completely closing. "Let me in, Gaara." He said playfully.

Gaara's breathing sped up and he felt the sweat accumulating in his palms. Through the gap, he could something draped over the blonde's arm.

His coat. The one he had discarded when he was Uzumaki, just a few hours ago. He noted his phone was still in the opposite pocket Uzumaki had dropped it in.

"You left this behind, Gaara." Uzumaki said, offering the coat, but held it in a way that required Gaara to reach through the gap to get it.

Gaara stared apprehensively through the gap and opened the door a bit more to quickly grab it. Once his fingers closed around the material, he pulled it towards him, flinching when Uzumaki's fingers brushed his wrists. He awkwardly glanced at the killer through the opening. "…Would…you like to come…inside?" Why had he said that? _'Damn you, common courtesy.'_ He mentally swore to whoever had invented manners.

The blonde smiled pleasantly and nodded. "Certainly, thank you _very _much."

Gaara moved away from the door and let the murderer into his apartment, careful to stay at least five feet away from him, just in case. It was too late now, and considering that Uzumaki didn't move away from the door, meaning he was trapped until the blonde decided to leave.

"Are you alright? You seem rather pale." Uzumaki stated, breaking the silence. He titled his head and met his eyes with his own pair of piercing blue ones.

The redhead was breathing heavily as he backed away and nodded frantically. "Y-yes, I'm fine!" He barked and pressed himself to the wall, wishing for it to swallow him up and spit him back outside the apartment. He wouldn't mind if he ended up in the ocean, anywhere that was anywhere away from Uzumaki would be _fine_.

Gaara watched the blonde frown before turning away and sitting down on the couch, wincing as he pulled the remote control from under his legs. Uzumaki turned his head, motioning at the T.V with the remote. "May I?"

With frantic nods, Gaara shuffled as quietly as he could to the door. He had never noticed until now, how small his apartment was, and how _close_ the couch was to the door. Uzumaki could simply just turn around and kill him, just like that, if he wanted to. Gaara frowned and shifted his hand on to the doorknob as he glared at the back of the blonde's head. Uzumaki had now switched the T.V on and was watching the news with apparent interest. He rolled his eyes when he saw it was the rerun of the Uzumaki news report thing. _Again._ Gaara flicked his eyes off the T.V and back onto the blonde. How would he react on hearing about himself on the news? Frowning, Gaara thought about it: surely the murderer had access to a T.V?

"-Uzumaki to kill them." It was the same reporter, sawing the same words with the same expression. "We only know his name. Mysteriously, all past records of him have been destroyed or missing." She stated, as the same supposed picture of Uzumaki appeared next to her. "Police say that he may be travelling under an unknown alias, but they are certain Uzumaki whisker-like markings on his face, that may be tattoos. He is armed with a cleaver. Make sure if you see someone who matches the descri-"

Gaara frowned when Uzumaki switched the T.V off and with a casual flick of the remote, yawned and stretched like a household cat. If memory served him correctly, Uzumaki had switched it off just before they showed some gruesome images of his victims. The woman would have them informed viewers that Uzumaki's victims had the trademark whisker marking on their cheeks. Was it guilt? Gaara reluctantly moved away from the door to try and see the look on the blonde's face. Damn him and his nosiness.

Uzumaki must have heard him move and turned around to motion him over. He patted the space next to him on the couch and smiled when he walked slowly away from the door. Gaara hesitantly sat down, because, to be honest, he was too scared to say no. He flinched and let out a barely audible yelp when Uzumaki moved his hand to feel his forehead.

"You're hot." The blonde stated, frowning. His hand trailed down to feel against Gaara's neck, causing him to freeze up and will himself to not swat the hand away. Fortunately, Uzumaki's hand then dropped away and stayed a safe distance away from his neck. Why did he have the feeling Uzumaki was going to strangle him?

"I-it's nothing…" Gaara replied as steadily as he could. He didn't need Uzumaki feeling 'sorry' for him and deciding to stay to 'take care' of him until he felt better.

Uzumaki's frown deepened, but said nothing. Instead, he looked him in the eye and gave a soft smile. "So Gaara, how have you been?"

It was Gaara's turn to frown. Why was he talking to him as if he was… a friend? The last time he checked, he was certain that he was _not_ friends with a psychopathic murderous blonde, especially not _this_ blonde. Deciding that remaining silent would possibly cause the blonde to murder him and mutilate his body, Gaara licked his drying lips and steadied his shaking hands as well as he could. "F-fine."

The blonde tilted his head. "I see." He said it lightly, but Gaara could hear the displeasure deep in his voice; obviously that was not the answer he wanted to hear.

"I, um, work with Sasori at the funeral parlor now…" the redhead said quickly. Hopefully, that would be enough to distract Uzumaki from whatever he wanted from him.

"By the police station?" Uzumaki asked, seemingly interested.

Gaara nodded and found he was quietly stuttering about his job in the funeral parlor. The odd thing was that Uzumaki was _actually_ and genuinely interested about this. Gaara mentally scoffed when he realised that was probably because the crazy murderer's victims were there.

"Are you sure you're okay?" the blonde questioned, getting off the couch to wander into the kitchen. "I'll make you some tea so you'll feel better. If it's a cold, you need to stay warm." He called from the kitchen.

Gaara heard tinkling and a rustling sound before the sound of the kettle being filled. So Uzumaki was making him…tea? He would have protested, but he didn't want the blonde killing him or anything. Now that he wasn't in his line of sight, Gaara began to reflect on it, as silently as he could, because frankly, he was sure if he made a noise, Uzumaki would come barreling out of the kitchen wielding a cleaver and a scary smile plastered across his face. But at the same time, the man in his kitchen didn't seem like Uzumaki. It could just be someone from the funeral parlor that he forgot about. Maybe it was one of the grieving family members. Maybe? He bloody hoped it was.

His thoughts were scattered when the harsh sound of a whistling kettle pierced the comfortable quiet. Gaara flinched out of his frozen state and waited as patiently as he could for Uzumaki. He had a feeling that if he jumped off the couch and ran for the door, he was going to find the infamous famous cleaver sinking into his back.

The blonde walked back into the living room with a cup of tea in his hands. His balance was perfect; it seemed as if the tea didn't even _move_ in the cup as Uzumaki made his way towards him. The unnatural stillness made Gaara question if he was really just dreaming the whole thing. Wanting desperately to test the idea by slapping Uzumaki away, but being afraid that it in fact was _not_ a dream, he stayed still and watched the blonde with his eyes.

"Here you go." Uzumaki said, pressing the warm cup into his hands. He sat down next to him as Gaara stared apprehensively at the cup. It looked like normal tea. As normal as tea could get. Which, in the majority of cases, would be _very_ normal.

Gaara hesitantly raised the cup to his lips and took a small, cautious sip before setting the cup back on the saucer and delicately placing it on to the coffee table. Too worried about Uzumaki killing him, Gaara did not taste how odd the tea was in reality; the extra flavor was barely there, and would have needed full attention to be noticed.

The blonde watched him intently, as if waiting for something to happen. Gaara frowned and reached to take another sip of tea. It tasted a bit funny now, but he didn't think too much of it. Only when did he realize that he did not have any tea in his apartment, let alone any sort of consumables, did the redhead become slightly suspicious. He was _certain_ that his cupboards held nothing but dust now, so Uzumaki himself must have brought the tea bags himself. Gaara blinked and returned the cup to the saucer. Why was he staring at him like that? Did he have something on his face? He was starting to feel extremely self-conscious now, and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, just in case he in fact _did_ have something there.

As his arm began to drop back to his lap, Gaara felt a wave of dizziness overcome him, and he frowned and leaned back into the couch. His head pounded and the room seemed to get smaller and hotter. The shadows in the corner pulsed and crawled out, eating at the walls. It was getting darker and darker, while his breathing became slow, labored, like an old man's.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he saw the blonde smirk before the world went into the abyss.

* * *

_Chapter Two: Complete!_

_How was it? I had to change it, because it was kinda short, so here's your extended version._

_For all you people out there who haven't read my previous horrible unedited chapters, I've changed the plot so there would be more drama. Because people remember drama. Proven fact and all. You new guys haven't missed too much, I'm considering keeping Chapter Seven about the same, but that doesn't mean that I've given you an invitation to flounce over to the chapter and read ahead. It will confuse you. Greatly._

_PM me your comments?_


	3. A Hunger for Answers

**Sly Fox**

Chapter Three: _A Hunger for Answers_

* * *

He simpered as Gaara's eyes rolled to the back of his head.

Naruto brushed back the red hair and allowed the now half-conscious body to lean into his.

Glancing at the semi-unconscious person in front of him, he inwardly smiled at the familiar face and caressed it lightly with his hand. He hadn't seen him in a while now. It was pure coincidence that he had seen him again. Usually, he'd find a _those_ ones and follow them, see their life, go through their connections, find out who would be affected if they just _disappeared_ from the world, that sort of thing, but no one needed to know how surprised he was when he saw that familiar head of red spikes. The delight that coursed through his veins gave him the energy to venture forward to see if it was actually him, the one who he had been hearing about.

"Now Gaara," Naruto breathed into his ear. "You're going to tell me about yourself."

Gaara moaned and mumbled something unintelligible. Naruto frowned. Usually, they would have started vomiting up their life stories by now, so why was this redhead any different? His eyebrows rose when Gaara began to shudder and his fists clenched and unclenched in a spastic matter. This was when he mentally slapped himself. Of _course_… how could he have forgotten that Gaara…?

Naruto swore under his breath, but relaxed and reached into his pocket to pull out the bottle. Squinting at the tiny print, he swore again when he saw how much was left. He didn't remember putting _that_ much in… Oh well. It was only a minor annoyance.

The blonde re-pocketed the bottle and watched as Gaara's mouth twitched into a frown.

"I didn't mean to do it…"

Naruto blinked. The words were barely uttered, but he had heard them. He tilted his head as he sorted through his memories; what had he done… was it…?

Gaara shuddered and he began shaking. "No, please… I didn't… don't…please, I don't want to go there… I-" His soft mumbling was cut off with an almost content sigh and his shaking faded into unnatural stillness.

The blonde frowned. It wasn't enough. He needed more. But what Gaara had said managed to piece some of the shreds of information he had.

"Gaara…" he whispered into the redhead's ear. More.

It was almost unexpected when Gaara answered with a slight whine in his voice. "…What, Kankuro…?"

_'Kankuro…?'_ Naruto recognized the name. Kankuro was Gaara's… brother. Yes, his brother. Older brother to be precise. How odd… The blonde contemplated on searching the apartment for any information on the brother in question, but unfortunately, the effects were taking a bit longer than planned. He didn't feel like leaving the redhead mumbling away valuable information while he went on a 'scavenger hunt'. Besides, on quick observation of the apartment while he was in the 'kitchen', allowed him enough knowledge to know that Gaara did not keep anything that looked as if he had any friends, acquaintances, not even a _life._ This vexed the blonde very much, but it was best for him to wait until the redhead woke up. Instead, Naruto brushed the red mop of hair off his forehead and traced the tattoo there. "What happened?"

Gaara shook his head. Odd. Usually they always answered, always submitted themselves to him. Naruto leaned down and checked his eyes; they were half-lidded now, and it appeared that it was not quite working. Gaara was supposed to be _susceptible_ to the questions. Perhaps it was because of all _those_ things…

Naruto lifted Gaara's chin up so their eyes were somewhat locked. Although Gaara was in a half-drugged state, he was still able to 'function', if one was to put it as such. "Tell me, Gaara. I would like very much to know."

The redhead flinched and squirmed. "Please…" He tried to pull away, but Naruto was pleased when he was too weak to do so. The drug was working now. "It hurts…"

The blonde realised his hand had latched itself around Gaara's thin wrist, and let it go. He frowned. He wasn't supposed to feel pain under its effects, and when had Gaara been so skinny? True, he was always a bit underfed, but still… "Tell me or it will hurt more."

"…I'm sorry…" Gaara muttered_. _Beneath the darkened, heavy lids, his eyes darted around, as if searching for an answer. Naruto was slightly annoyed that the red-haired man was being so unreasonable. It worked so _well_ on all those others; oh how they spilled out their stories as if they were being disemboweled- a bit messy, but it was fast and it satisfied him. Very much.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Why are you sorry, Gaara?"

The redhead's face scrunched up in what appeared to be pain, his hand slowly reaching up to touch his own cheek. "That… hurt, Temari… I keep telling you… why… why won't you listen…?" Gaara's breathing sped up and he looked as if he was on the verge of tears as his hands moved to clench the bottom of his shirt. "Wh-why… why did you have to lie?"

Naruto watched in interest. It was as if Gaara was talking with someone. Temari? Or Kankuro? He remembered seeing Temari once, Gaara's older sister. The three siblings barely shared any resemblance, but if one looked close enough, they would notice that Temari and Gaara's eyes were near identical and Kankuro and Temari had the same 'closed off' expression. Some would argue that Kankuro looked like an older version of Gaara, just with a different hair colour and eyes, but Naruto knew that the only resemblance between the two brothers was their surname. The blonde also had a hunch that it was something about this semi-concious Sabuku that had caused the whole story to spread around high school like wild fire.

* * *

_"Did you hear?"_

_Naruto looks up from his books in interest as the teme smirks and crosses his arms. "What is it now?"_

_Teme leans closer, as do all their friends. "You know that Sabuku kid? The one with red hair?"_

_"Ohhh him?" Teme's cousin asks, eyes wide. Then, her eyes narrow and she pokes teme's arm. "Not this again! It's just a rumor-" Her eyes narrow further. "Right?"_

_A familiar face breaks through the mini-crowd, modeling clay in hand. "Oh God, he's already told this to us at least five times!"_

_Naruto laughs. "Oh, go on. I haven't heard this sick, fucked up rumor yet."_

_They all laugh. Then teme shushes them and speaks in a low, mystifying voice. "That guy apparently got sent to some top-notch security asylum at six, and just got out this year."_

_The blonde's face shifts to a steady blank. But inside, his mind is whirring with the new information. He shoots a glance at the familiar face and it is returned with a cocked eyebrow. "Is he mentally unstable or something?"_

_Teme shakes his dark-head somewhat jealously. "No, he's actually a genius. He's only thirteen, and he's already in the grade below us." His eyes light up as he keeps speaking, the rest of their friends holding their breath as they eagerly wait for more of the scandalous rumor. "He went into the asylum coz' he murdered someone… well that's what Itachi said… anyway, Itachi said the guy murdered that person when he was_ six_."_

_Everyone's reactions are different. Some swearing, some eyes widen, some gasping, but Naruto's and the familiar boy's are identical: blank as a clean slate. The lazy boy decides to speak up now. "That means us guys were around nine, and the girls were…"_

_"Seven or eight." One of the girls finish, a slight sense of wonder crossing over all of their pretty faces. _

_"He's younger than all of us, he's smart, and he's killed someone…" Teme's cousin whistles. "Dang…"_

_Naruto decides to speak up now. "Who started the rumor?"_

_Teme shrugs. "Dunno. Itachi heard it from someone who said they heard it when they went to the Staff Room and heard some of the teachers discussing it."_

_"This person could have heard wrong, you know." The lazy boy mutters, resting his head on the desk while moodily flicking his pencil across the table and back. "For all they know, they could be talking about a totally different person."_

_Teme shakes his head, a triumphant smirk on his face. "Nope, they said his name and apparently it's on his medical records as well. And I know that they're telling the truth because I've seen them myself."_

_"You got into his medical records?" Teme's cousin asks incredulously. "Look's like we have a stalker here."_

_Teme scoffs. "I am_ not_ a stalker! I just happened to see them." He flips his hair in a way that makes the girls sigh and roll their eyes. "Whatever. If you still think I'm a stalker, then let me tell you something:" He gave his classic smirk, grabs a pencil and throws it over his shoulder. "I have now thrown my 'stalker' life away."_

_The blonde girl cocks a neatly plucked eyebrow. "Your stalker life is a pencil? Isn't that sort of lame?"_

_"You tell him." Teme's cousin giggles. She turns to the others and whispers conspicuously. "He's a stalker. Only stalkers throw pencils over their shoulders like that." _

_Everyone laughs as the bell rings, signaling the end of class. They all pack their books and dwell on the new rumor._

_The teacher ushers them out quickly, a look of hunger painted obviously across his face. Naruto and teme give each other a nod before walking out of the classroom. Little does teme know that this rumor has piqued his interest. Was Sabuku really sent to an asylum for murdering someone at the age of six? Maybe… maybe not._

_Naruto smirked, books tucked neatly under his arm. He picked up the unceremoniously discarded pencil from the floor._

_Perhaps now it was his turn to take up the role of the stalker._

* * *

"Temari…" Gaara's voice brought Uzumaki back to reality. "You have to listen…I…he…he _made_ me do it…I didn't want to…"

So the rumor wasn't a rumor after all. The redhead lying on his lap _had _actually killed someone. Now it was to find who it was. It would be a good piece of information to hold onto for the future. "I'm disappointed, Gaara." Naruto sighed nonchalantly, lifting his hand to sweep back some stray strands of blonde hair. "Aren't you sick and tired of the lies?"

When the redhead refused to answer, Naruto sighed again and mentally calculated how long it had been before he had spiked the tea. And taking account of what Gaara used to do in the past, the person lying in his lap would regain conscious in about a few minutes. Naruto had yet to hear everything. But he was used to disappointments, though, so this wasn't too big a setback to his objective.

It was a shame really, how they'd all fallen apart since 'that' happened, but it was inevitable. They were all just too ignorant to see it; denying all knowledge of ever noticing him creep away; trying their best not to shake some sense into him as he slowly withdrew from the world. He knew for a fact that Teme himself had tried to use his wealth as a way to help- which was strange, considering Teme was a bit of a Scrooge when it came to his wealth-, but even then, he rejected it all.

But when he wasn't moody and withdrawn, he was… different. Naruto and the others had always thought that it was his involvement that allowed them to stay together even after university. After he had had his hand in what had happened that day after school, Naruto had never felt more grateful, but now the feelings were fading. Had they talked after it? A few words, nothing too big. The blonde remembered the next day, how his group had been wary and confused, as he had introduced them to him. But after a few days, they opened up and he had too…and no one spoke of the rumor again. Maybe it was because they couldn't bear to hurt him after they had realised how fragile he was. And strangely enough, or not strangely enough, 'that' group finally left them alone; often shooting glances and glares after them as they walked past each other down the hallways, yet they made no effort to change after what had happened. Naruto smirked at the memory: it had been fun, listening to their secrets, that weren't really secrets to begin with.

Naruto now scoffed; correction, it hadn't been fun. So _boring_, nothing interesting. They were _pathetic_, not even worth his time. In his rage, his hand found soft flesh and squeezed it. Only when Gaara began to make a choking noise did the blonde realize what he was crushing. "Ah… sorry there, Gaara." He breathed into his ear, letting go of the redhead's neck. Naruto caressed the now slightly bruised skin and blew some strands of blonde hair from his eyes. How many had he killed by choking them in the end? Hmm. Only two. Out of what? He counted the victims on his fingers, one… two… three… four…five…six…seven…

Eight?

The blonde shook his head. He couldn't remember, their faces were blurred as he searched through his memories; the only thing he could remember about them were their soft murmuring and the sound of their sobs as the inevitable came to them. He mentally laughed when he saw how hopefully they had lit up, when he had put his cleaver away and acted as if the thought of killing them had suddenly became abolished. But it was when he could finally lay the cool blade against their skin, was he truly in pure bliss. Because they _knew_ what was going to happen, but they had forgotten that he was the one from that time, instead, reckoning him to a nice, _normal_ person.

Naruto dipped his hand into his pocket and withdrew the cheap, disposable, prepaid phone- one that couldn't be tracked- he had acquired, just to 'blend' with the rest of them. Sighing, he pressed a button and took note of the time. Almost lunch.

Becoming conscious of this thought, the blonde's stomach growled and it was then when he realised how long it had been since he'd eaten. With no money, he basically could not afford to simply go and eat; he needed to 'leech' off someone. At times like this, he cursed how hard it was to stay hidden from the nosy police until his objectives were complete. If only they'd give up, or maybe he could just kill them, but when he had found the identities of the ones working on his case, he begrudgingly backed away and let them work. He knew that they wouldn't turn him in yet, knowing them, they'd slap him across the face for what he had done. He smirked at the time Teme's dear cousin had slapped him when she caught him cheating off her test.

And so, to put it in short words, Naruto was hungry. For two things to be exact: One, to get all the information he could out of Gaara before he woke up, and two, to get food to eat, because he knew he couldn't live on car mints for too long.

The problem was, Naruto no longer knew what to ask the redhead. Even after his extensive searching for more information, he could find absolutely nothing. It was if someone had gone to great lengths to erase the existence of the redhead. Naruto had an idea who it could be, but it was probably not wise to lash out just now, when it was not confirmed yet.

Why did things have to be so _complicated_?

Naruto sighed and lightly nudged Gaara with his hand. "Hey, Gaara?" It should be wearing off about now.

The redhead creaked an eye half-open and gave a soft glare. "Sasori, I'm an insomniac, and I'd really appreciate it that when I'm finally sleeping that you _don't _wake me up?"

Naruto chuckled. "But of course." He watched in amusement as Gaara processed the voice and realised that the velvet voice beared no similarities to his cousin's light tone. The blonde looked down and gave a wink, which caused the redhead to stare in shock before tumbling off his lap in fear. Naruto leaned down and brushed aside some strands of hair from Gaara's eyes, before cupping his cheek. "Would you prefer that I don't wake you up next time?"

Gaara's eyes seemed to glare back as Naruto smiled, and shook his head in an attempt to dislodge his hand. He withdrew, noting how uncomfortable the redhead must have been feeling, considering he had the coffee table jabbing into his back, with his legs scrunched up against his chest like that. He almost looked like he used to back then, when he was still the 'asylum-escapee'. Naruto remembered how those resentful eyes followed the movements of the classmates as they left for the next class, always accompanied by friends. It wasn't his fault really; they later found that he was an approachable person who just gave off bad first impressions.

Gaara was now ignoring him. It was quite obvious, and very cute at the same time. But at the same time, Naruto did not like being ignored. He loved being the centre of attention, but it couldn't be helped. Oh well. Still, Naruto enjoyed how close he could get to them, before they realised it. The police were all over his case, even the media couldn't get enough of him, and he loved that. He could say he _lived_ off the media interviews with the families of the ones he had gone after. The grief of those they had lost was… like a drug. Naruto had to admit it was an amazing feeling watching the sobbing parents and siblings as their beloved one happened to be sitting right next to him, or in some cases, already dead, but still- an amazing feeling.

Sometimes when he walked around the city -pretending to be like the rest of the scared lambs- he would often hear snatches of conversations, and all were about him. It seemed his name was taboo, but that didn't stop the people from talking about him. Naruto even recalled joining in on one of the gossip sessions with a couple of people waiting for a bus. They didn't even look twice at him though; obviously the absence of the scars on his face and given them a sort of illusion that the stranger that was talking with them was not Naruto Uzumaki at all, just a blonde guy that happened to be waiting for a bus.

Naruto pulled away from Gaara and threw his head back as his stomach growled. "I'm famished." He looked down at Gaara who had managed to inch his way around the coffee table to the other side. As if a mere _coffee_ _table _could stop him. "Aren't you?"

"…A little." Gaara admitted quietly from behind the table.

The blonde sniffed, pushing himself off the couch and stretching. "Shall we order something to eat?" He already knew the answer to this question, but it was better if he had someone to confirm it.

Naruto watched the redhead sigh. "I don't know any numbers, besides, I don't even have a phone here."

"Is that so?" He walked around the coffee table and watched in amusement as he withdrew his cleaver to pick the dirt from under his fingernails. Gaara's eyes followed the blade as they slid under his nails. Naruto was suppressing his urge to take a swipe at the redhead and splash some lovely colour into the bland apartment, but that would be incredibly rude, after all, he was a guest, and guests were not supposed to do that. Instead he opted to 'accidentally' drop the blade and observed how Gaara quickly tried to move away to avoid the blade. It landed where his foot would have been, if he hadn't decided to move it.

The poor redhead was what Naruto would call a shock victim, who had just narrowly escaped a foot decapitation. He crawled away from Naruto, never taking his eyes off his blue ones, panting too hard to get up. The redhead looked as if he was ready to knock him down and run away, but he was obviously too out of breath to do so.

Naruto chuckled. "There are some people in the world that say they like the thrill of the chase," He stood on Gaara's ankle and pinned it there. Leaning down, his grinned as Gaara's eyes widened. "And I'm one of them."

The blonde watched as Gaara's resistance began to crack under his gaze. But it was extremely impressive that the redhead had managed to hold out for this long; the others had probably started screaming as soon as they came out of their daze. "Unfortunately," Naruto continued, as naturally as continuing a normal conversation. "I'm not in the mood for a chase, in fact, I'd much rather go _eat_." He drew closer and smirked when he heard the sharp intake of breath from the redhead.

"But I promise I'll play with you later."

The assurance didn't seem very assuring for Gaara. In fact, he looked horrified, which confused Naruto very much. Wasn't everything all 'fun and games' now? Naruto became more confused, but quickly brushed it aside, after all, when he made a promise, he always carried it through to the end. The blonde wondered what type of game the redhead would like to play. But now, he wanted to eat. He got off Gaara's ankle and gripped his arm, pulling him up into a standing position.

"I haven't had breakfast, and neither have you, so shall we?" Naruto had already moved to the door and extended his hand to Gaara, who was already backing away from him. The blonde blew out some air. "Come now, Gaara. I said we'd play games later."

The pale redhead shot him a dubious glare from across the room. "I'm not going _anywhere_ with you."

Naruto felt his grin widen. So he wanted a fight? _'Very well, Gaara.'_ Naruto thought as he made his way silently to Gaara, who was frozen by the sight of the blonde's disturbing smile. When Naruto was standing right in front of him, he kneeled down slightly to match the shorter man's height and gave him a light peck on the nose. "But I'm _sooo_ hungry, Gaara." Naruto inwardly chuckled at how wide his eyes had become. "Whatever shall I eat?"

Gaara did not reply, instead opting to back himself into the wall. He looked absolutely terrified; his whole body was shaking and his stubborn demeanour was slowly disintegrating as Naruto leaned in and nibbled lightly on his ear lobe. The blonde decided to tease him a bit more by running his tongue down his neck, stopping just before it touched the collar of the shirt.

"Won't you tell me, Gaara?" Naruto asked sadly, placing both of his hands on the wall, trapping the redhead. His face may have looked despondent, but his bright eyes said otherwise. "Won't you offer something for me to eat?"

"D-don't kill me…"

The blonde sighed and pushed away, turning his back to the trembling person. "You know very well I can't eat that." His tone suggested slight disgust, but his words were amused and light.

Gaara tried again. The blonde hoped that this time it would be something actually edible, not another plea. He'd grown tired of them a _long_ time ago. "Uh…there's a c-coffee shop…"

Naruto turned around so suddenly; it caused Gaara to fling himself back against the wall and slowly slide down it. The killer looked down and watched in amusement. "A brilliant suggestion." He held out a hand. "Shall we?"

He could already see the gears turning in the pale man's head; he would have no option but to accept outstretched hand, after all, it was polite to take it, and from what Naruto knew, Gaara was always the one to remember his manners. Bless him, he even said 'please' and 'thank you' and 'excuse me' and all that polite garbage to random strangers that certainly did not deserve it. Sure, Naruto's own manners were pretty good, be he could still learn. He glanced down at the redhead. His hand was starting to get tired, so he shot him a look that clearly read: 'I'd take the hand if I were you'.

And he was right; Gaara hesitantly took the hand and allowed himself to be pulled up. Naruto guided the pale man out the door and down the hallway, which was a bit unnecessary, because he _lived_ here and all, but it seemed that Gaara needed all the help he could get just to stay upright on both feet. The poor man looked as if he was going to have a mental breakdown. "You're going to have to lead the way." Naruto whispered into Gaara's ear, and was answered with a badly disguised curse word. The blonde made it his point to give a loud 'tut tut' upon hearing the obscenity, and smirked when the redhead flinched but kept walking.

Naruto wondered why Gaara was so scared. It wasn't like he had pulled a knife on him, tore open his head and poked around at the contents.

Oh wait.

Naruto laughed out loud and followed Gaara down the stairs, who had turned around at the burst of amusement.

Naruto caught his gaze and chuckled. "Nothing you should worry about, Gaara." _'Yet'._ He gave the redhead a playful wink, before descending into the oblivious community once more.

* * *

_YOU SHALL NOT PASS._

_Sorry folks. Don't read past this chapter, because it won't make any sense. Anyways, how'd you like that? Naruto's POV and everything. I had to keep everything shady and implied, because YOU don't know what's going on but HE does. So you just have to piece it together yourself. Sorry about that._

_As you can see, Naruto is a bit loopy and stuff here. But he's supposed to be. So no arguing._

_Anyways, if you didn't notice, I put up a new humor fic to counter this dark and depressing one, just in case any one feels like bursting into tears. (Not that you would)._

_Make sure to PM me your comments!_

_DON'T READ ANY MORE OF THIS NOW UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE._


	4. Excuse Me

_YOU DIDN'T LISTEN... OMG YOU LITTLE..._

_I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE._

_Please, respect my authority, or else the next chapters will be horrible. Not that they already are, or anything._

_AND I THOUGHT I COULD TRUST YOU._

_Carry on. Don't let me catch you trying to skip ahead. Or else..._

_..._

_..._

_..._

_you won't have a head to skip ahead with._


	5. Chapter 5

Hey, hey. I'm sorry for being late and all, but I've got my exams coming up and I really want to actually TRY and get a good mark, so yeah… But don't worry, coz' in those extra study periods we have, I'm gonna write millions of one-shots or chapter fics then I'll post them all at once! How does that sound?

I made this chapter extra long for you guys, to make up for my absence, but what do you guys prefer? 1K words or something like 2K every time? Coz' I'm really bad at making something short, unless I'm out of ideas.

I would disclaim, but I don't feel like it. So yeah… no Naruto… yet.

BTW, I'm sooo sorry, but I can't put that lemon I promised you, coz' I believe you can't rush love. You have to have patience until the time is right. I'm sorry; I understand if you flame, but this is what I believe is right, so there. But I WILL put that lemon somewhere in this fic, maybe the end of this chap or next chap. I dunno, only time will tell. It's also un-beta'd. Sorryyyy!

CHAPTER FIVE

And then Naruto sealed his words by capturing his lips in a sweet, soft kiss.

The blonde nibbled softly on his lower lip as his tongue pushed against his teeth. Gaara, unsure of how to respond, opened his mouth tentatively to allow it to enter his mouth.

Gaara gasped for air and instinctively drew away, but Naruto grabbed him again and pulled him so close, his breath was tickling the back of his sensitive neck.

"Please stay, Gaara."

Gaara shuddered as Naruto's breath ghosted over his ear and submissively nodded, unsure of what to do.

Naruto smiled and began to unbutton Gaara's shirt to reveal pale, unmarked flesh.

"Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?" Naruto muttered as he slowly eased the shirt off Gaara's tense shoulders.

"…No…" Gaara replied quietly, his face slowly heating up as Naruto ran a calloused hand along his body.

"So I'm the first, hmm?" Naruto whispered into Gaara's ear. After Gaara nodded in reply and moaned slightly when Naruto started to suck on his nipple. "W-what are you…"

Naruto looked up at him slyly. "Giving you what you should have gotten from me as a thank you."

Gaara's face flushed when Naruto started pinching and pulling his other nipple. He couldn't help but moan when Naruto's mouth started working up to his neck, nipping and sucking at occasional spots. "N-naruto…"

Naruto raised his head and kissed him softly again. "It's okay, we an stop if you want."

Gaara shook his head shamefully. "I'm just not sure what to do…"

"Don't worry, I'll do all the work, you just relax." Naruto assured him. He bent down and whispered into his ear something that made Gaara blush.

"Really?" Gaara asked quietly. His was lying under Naruto with his arms and legs splayed out with the bed sheets covering his lower torso, and was feeling rather vulnerable, especially after what Naruto had whispered to him.

Naruto nodded and grinned and started to fiddle with the waistband of Gaara's pants.

"W-wait." Gaara whispered. "I'm not ready…"

Naruto looked at him. "You don't have to be. I'm going to do it all for you."

Gaara shook his head frantically and pushed lightly at Naruto's chest. "It's not that, I just…don't think I know you that well yet." He took a deep breath and continued. "When we're ready, we'll know…"

Naruto stared at him for a few seconds, before leaning down and nuzzling Gaara. "That's so sweet… okay, Gaara." He whispered. The blonde fixed the sheets over the both of them. He turned his body to the side so he could see Gaara, whose face was still slightly flushed from their halted foreplay. He shifted his hand to caress the redhead's warm cheek before leaning closer to kiss him softly again.

"Naruto?"

Naruto blinked sleepily and shifted closer. "Hmm?"

"Were you going to leave me afterwards?"

The question made the blonde smile. Gaara was pretty smart, but he was wrong with this one. "Never."

Gaara smiled back and shuffled closer to rest his head against Naruto's chest. "…Thank you."

Naruto wrapped his arms around the younger's small frame. He could tell that Gaara could not sleep well. "You haven't slept with anyone before? Someone with a face as pretty as yours?" He tried to hold back his smirk as Gaara's face heated up.

"No!" Gaara snapped. "Now please be quiet, I want to sleep."

"Sure thing, Gaa-chan."

"Please don't call me that."

"Okay, Gaa-chan."

Gaara made a show of shuffling away from Naruto in mock anger, before realizing he was opening his heart to a murderer. He was supposed to play it cool, keep the mask on, but Naruto made him feel so safe, as if he could tell him all his secrets. But he couldn't. Not when he knew Naruto could kill without conviction. _I don't know anymore. I don't know what to do. I could die any second now. But… I… I…I don't know anything._

The room was silent, save for their soft breathing. Both Naruto and Gaara knew that the other was awake.

"Naruto…?"

"Hmm?"

Gaara shifted back into Naruto's warm embrace. _If I'm going to die, then I might as well do what I can._ "Naruto… I-"

But Naruto stopped him. "Do you?" He lightly kissed the redhead's nose. "Don't lie to yourself."

Gaara remained silent, the words on the edge of his tongue. But what Naruto right? Was he lying to himself, if he said those words?

"I don't know anymore." Gaara whispered, feeling so helpless, as if he was watching him self from far away. It felt as if he was a stranger to himself. _Is this what it feels like to lose yourself?_

Naruto pulled away to look Gaara in the eye. "You know. And that's why."

Before the younger could ask what he meant, Naruto immediately seemed to fall asleep. His arms were still wrapped around Gaara, whose mind was a raging battlefield between truth and lie.

Gaara felt like this was going to be a sleepless night again until he felt the warmth from being wrapped in Naruto's embrace and began to unconsciously relax. Before he knew it, he too began to close his eyes.

And that was the first time Gaara had fallen asleep in fourteen years.

~the morning (yeah, that sucked, oh well.)~ *does the dance of suckishness *

Gaara immediately panicked as he opened his eyes to sunlight and remembered what had happened last night. He sat up as if he had been shot and checked his pulse.

Nothing.

_Oh wait, wrong side. _Gaara found his pulse and relaxed, but tensed again when he heard his phone vibrate somewhere close, underneath the bed. The redhead reluctantly got out and fished under the bed and found his coat. His phone was in the pocket.

_Finally woke up? U looked so cute sleeping! BTW I went 2 handle sum busines. Don't get in2 any trouble, K? C U l8r! ^_^_

Gaara certainly wouldn't be surprised if Naruto could read the future of something. He had received that text just after he woke up. _Maybe he's put hidden camera's somewhere._ This made Gaara feel extremely self conscious (he wasn't wearing a shirt, remember the previous night? Wink wink) and slightly horrified that someone might be watching his every move.

And so, the redhead began to find some clothes to change into while thinking about Naruto's 'business'. _He_ _might be killing someone right now._

Gaara shook his head and went to check on his hamper, which was filled with clothes. He sighed and decided to take them to the Laundromat next to his apartment.

He picked up the clothes and dumped them into a basket. Remembering he had to eat something, he shrugged and considered eating brunch instead of breakfast. He wasn't hungry anyways.

As he brushed his teeth, he heard his phone vibrate again and rushed out to check.

_U need 2 charge ur fone. U've got until the end of this msg. O well. ^_^_

And suddenly, his phone switched off and flashed the red battery picture. Gaara sighed and went to find his phone charger, plugging it in and picked up the laundry basket.

He pulled on his coat, took one last look at his apartment before walking out and locking the door. Gaara didn't exactly feel safe without a phone, but this had happened before, and he wasn't exactly bothered by it. Gaara considered that Naruto might want to text him again, but the blonde _had_ known that he was out of battery, so he shrugged it off and walked down the stairs, passed the receptionist and exited the building. He was met with a pleasant breeze.

Gaara immediately entered the Laundromat, feeling somewhat foolish about the basket with all the dirty clothes in it, but everyone had dirty clothes, so it really didn't matter.

As he entered, he made eye contact with a young woman that immediately sent a chill down his spine.

Her eyes were… What were they? Gaara could only describe them as big, innocent, yet intimidating eyes. They were pale, slightly tinted with lavender. The woman had no pupils to speak of.

The woman blinked before turning around and waited for what possibly could be her clothes in the dryer.

With her back turned, Gaara began to take in her appearance. She seemed somewhat familiar, as if he had seen her somewhere. She had long dark hair and a very nice figure, in Gaara's opinion, but he considered himself currently asexual, so that was as far as he went with her body. She had alertness in her posture, showing that although she wasn't looking at him, she could still 'see' him. And in the brief moment he had saw her eyes, he felt as I she could see through him, see the secrets he was hiding, see the inner turmoil in his soul.

Gaara snapped himself out of his daze and shoved the clothes into an available machine. Fishing around in his pockets for loose change, he came across a rolled up piece of paper. He smoothed it out.

_I had a feeling you wouldn't want to stay put. So impatient. Oh well. If the laundry feels kinda heavy, that's my fault; I dumped some of my stuff in as well. Sorry for making you carry it all the way down those stairs. ^_^_

How was it possible that Naruto could read his every move? It wasn't like Naruto knew him well enough… did he?

A wave of uncertainness washed over Gaara as he inserted a coin into the slot and waited. Then, he heard a soft curse and a soft 'fwump'. Turning around, he saw the woman struggling to pick up some of her clothes that had tumbled from her grasp. Gaara told himself to ignore her, but it was hard; he was the only one there. So he sighed, and walked over to help the woman.

"Here." He muttered, grabbing the clothes, folding them neatly and placing them on a chair.

"T-thanks." The woman stuttered. She suddenly seemed very nervous being around him, and wouldn't meet his eyes, unlike the last time. Strange. Maybe she had a split personality.

"Think nothing of it." Gaara replied. He was going to turn back to his clothes and avoid looking at her, but decided against it; it was too awkward. "I haven't seen you around before. Do you live nearby?" _Wait, why am I talking to her? _

The woman blinked at him before tucking some loose strands of hair behind her ear. "Y-yes… I moved here just yesterday."

Yesterday. The day Naruto permanently came into his life. A coincidence? "Is that so?" Gaara asked as level-toned as he could make it.

The woman nodded. "I'm living in the apartment next d-door."

His one. His shit apartment, the one where he and Naruto had shared a bed. "I live next door as well. Which room?"

"Number eleven, f-floor three." At this, Gaara began to doubt everything the woman had said. His own room was number nine, floor three. Which meant they were opposite each other.

Gaara had no choice but to tell her now. He felt as if she was waiting for him to reply. "I live right opposite you.

The woman smiled. "Oh really?" She temporarily abandoned her cleaned clothes and went next to him, extending a hand. "It was n-nice to meet you. I'm Hinata."

He lightly shook her hand. "Gaara."

Hinata leant down. "Is that a tattoo?" She reached out and brushed some of his hair away.

Gaara's heart began to quicken at how close they were, but took a deep breath to calm down. "Yeah."

Hinata withdrew her hand and blushed. "It's really… unique."

"Thank you." Gaara said, slightly surprised. Anyone who had noticed his tattoo before had scowled at it and called him a weirdo, or something along those lines.

Hinata brushed her hand on the cheek where the gauze was on. "What happened there?"

_Shit, what do I say?_ "Uh… I fell. The corner of the table was pretty sharp." Gaara said quickly. _Why am I lying to her? Why don't I just tell her everything?_

_Because you don't want to, do you? You want him. He was the only one. You can't risk him leaving now, hm? If he goes, you'll be alone _**forever**, _with no one but _**me** _to keep you company…_

_Shut up._ Gaara thought with gritted teeth, briefly hearing Hinata giggle a bit and tell him he didn't look that clumsy before straightening up. "Well, I have to go back now. Maybe I'll see y-you later?" Hinata asked, picking up her folded clothes.

"Yeah… okay." Gaara replied uncertainly, and watched her leave.

The rest went too quickly. Before he knew it, he was already back at his apartment with clean clothes. The whole time, his mind was on one thing. Naruto.

As if on cue, Naruto burst into the apartment, smiling and holding a bag. When he saw Gaara, however, his smile dropped, and his eyes darkened.

Gaara noticed and instinctively began to back away. And as if it was magic, his back contacted with the wall.

Naruto reached him in a few quick strides. He lowered himself to eye-level with Gaara before he spoke. "Who was that, Gaara?" (Remember, Naruto and Gaara are about an inch in height difference. Meaning, Gaara is pretty short.)

"W-who?" Gaara stuttered. Naruto didn't seem to be as 'normal' as he was before. _Shit, stop stuttering you wimp._

Naruto rested both of his palms on the wall next to Gaara's head. "Her. The person you met at the Laundromat downstairs."

Gaara swallowed. _Don't be such a baby. He's just asking you a question. Answer it._ "Her name's Hinata."

Naruto tilted his head but otherwise did not move. "Is that so?"

Nodding, Gaara went to quickly duck around Naruto, only to be pulled into his embrace from behind.

"Anything else I should be knowing, Gaara?" Naruto whispered into his ear.

Gaara struggled, but quickly gave up. "She… lives across the hallway." He could feel Naruto smile as he softly kissed the back of his neck. His heart began to beat faster at how close Naruto was, not to mention his neck was a pretty sensitive spot.

Almost immediately, Naruto released him and strode to the door.

"Wait!" Gaara gasped, face slightly tinged with pink, rushing over and grasping Naruto's arm. "D-don't kill her!"

Naruto looked back and laughed at how panicky Gaara looked. "What? I just want to say hello! Do you want to come as well?"

_Do you want to? What if he _**does**_kill her? And you get to all that blood splatter across her pretty face. It would be nice to see, wouldn't it? _

_SHUT UP!_ Gaara snarled mentally. He suddenly felt a lot more stable and nodded. "She did seem like she wanted to talk again."

Naruto held his hand as they walked across the hallway. He let go to knock on the door lightly.

"She might still be downstairs." Gaara bloody hoped that she was still downstairs. He didn't want her to become a part of this huge mess.

But Hinata eventually opened the door and blinked in surprise. "Gaara!" she exclaimed smiling, but then her smile turned into something else. "So soon?"

Gaara shook his head in denial, afraid of what Naruto was going to do, but gratefully, all he did was laugh. He and Hinata shook hands while introducing each other.

"I'm Gaara's friend. Just staying here for a while before the wind takes me somewhere else." Naruto told Hinata as she invited them inside.

Hinata's apartment was not too different from Gaara's, but it was a bit neater, and lighter, in terms of colour palette; Gaara's walls were all a dark tone of something.

"I didn't know you had a friend here!" Hinata remarked. "You don't seem like the person who likes humanity that much, no offence."

"None taken." Gaara replied. "You are right though… but…" he hesitated at the next words. "When Naruto came along, I guess my look on people changed."

Naruto grinned widely. "Wow, Gaara. Do I really mean _that_ much to you?"

Gaara scowled, not liking the little smirks Naruto and Hinata were sharing. "Not now."

Naruto pouted. "Aw… don't be such a sourpuss."

Hinata suddenly yelped. "Oh! I'm going to be late!" She apologetically ushered them out. "I'm so sorry, but my boss doesn't like it when we're late, so I have to go."

"It's fine. We didn't mean to intrude." Naruto consoled.

"It wasn't your fault, I just forgot. It was nice meeting you two!" Hinata said. Just before she rushed down the stairs, she sent them a smile. "Bye!"

As soon as she disappeared, Naruto and Gaara went back to his own apartment. Naruto seemed pretty relaxed. Gaara attempted to shuffle away, but was caught by Naruto again. "Did you mean that, Gaara?"

Gaara shrugged. "I guess I did, I had friends, but that was a long time ago." He turned and looked Naruto in the eyes. "After that, no one really liked me. Said something about me being to scary or something like that."

Naruto laughed and kissed him on the lips. "You, scary?"

Gaara scowled again, the gloominess from the previous conversation slowly ebbing away to be replaced by irritation. "Yes. I'm going to be more scary if you don't let me go now." _Wait, did I just threaten him?_

But Naruto did not look one bit surprised. "Gaa-chan couldn't hurt me!"

"If you call me that again, I swear I will." _Wow, I just threatened him again._

Naruto smiled and released him. He picked up his bag from before and pulled out a movie. "Let's watch a movie together!"

Gaara accepted, curious about which movie Naruto had chosen, for Naruto had a strange gleam in his eyes as he led him to the living room.

And done! For now, at least. Just an introduction to Hinata. You'll see why she's important to the story. You shall see. But not now. I'll try my best to update again soon, but no promises.

Buh-bye! Don't forget to review! I LIVE ON REVIEWS (and lollies, and dry ramen, and milk tea… okay. I'll stop now.)


	6. Chapter 6

Hey guys, sorry for the wait. I kinda lost my dark moody side and gravitated to the happy side, and I found that I COULD NOT do anything for Sly Fox.

But then, amazingly, after looking for hot Gaara pictures on the internet (you probably know what type *wink wink* I found my motivation.

The movie thing was my cousin's idea, and I thought 'yeah, okay, but if it's my downfall, then I'm blaming you'.

So yeah, if it sucks, keep those flames in a box and PM them to me, K?

Just letting you folks know that it get's kinda confusing later on with a lot of others, but they have a big contribution to the story. :3

I've also noticed that I'm increasing the fluffiness of Gaara, and I _really _need him to be less fluffy. So if he gets too fluffy, give me a shout, k?

I disclaimed before, so I won't disclaim again coz I don't own Naruto.

What about we just make a new story but label it as disclaimer, so if anyone wants to read a story, just redirect him or her to the story disclaimer so we don't have to disclaim again? Hm? But then i looked at the rules for publishing stories and it says you can' t do that. Shit.

Sorry about the spacing as well! I copy and paste from my Word Doc.

So enjoy!

* * *

CHAPTER SIX

"Naruto, I'm not watching it."

The blonde tilted his head. "Why not?" He moved closer. "Is Gaa-chan scared?"

Gaara growled and crossed his arms. "No, it's just…"

Naruto nodded. "That's why if you watch it with me, you won't feel scared anymore."

"That doesn't make sense. I'm not watching it." Gaara retorted.

"It's a psychological thing. So just trust me on this, Gaara. We're watching it for your sake. I can't stand to see you afraid of such a small thing."

The redhead sighed. "Fine."

Naruto smiled gratefully and turned the TV on. The disc player whirred and the menu screen flickered.

Gaara winced at how gory it was. He had heard of this movie before, after all, there were like five of them (you'll see which one it is, but I haven't watched it personally, coz I'm a big chicken) and none of them looked very nice.

Naruto held Gaara's chin lightly and tilted it upwards to the screen. "I'm here for you. Just watch. You will feel better."

Gaara shivered and instinctively moved closer to Naruto. Two men were in a bathroom. They were chained up and looked pretty scared. His mind flashed back to yesterday after Naruto came in. _Is it all just a coincidence?_

"Naruto…" Gaara whispered.

Naruto pulled him closer as a reassurance.

"Tell me the truth. Did that really happen? Did you…"

Naruto brushed his lips lightly across his forehead. "I did drug you. But you acted strangely, not as the drug was supposed to make you react. You… changed. So I kept you in there. After that, you calmed down I took you to the couch. That was all." He patted the couch they were sitting to encourage that he was telling the truth.

"So all that…"

Naruto tilted his head. "You did say many things while under that state." He looked Gaara in the eye. "What did it look like?"

The redhead turns away, intimidated by Naruto's bright blue, knowing eyes. "I… can't… don't… remember."

The blonde squeezed him reassuringly before stiffening. "Look! It's Jigsaw!"

Gaara reluctantly turned his eyes to the TV and watched as the two chained men listened to Jigsaw's 'rules'. The rest went by as a blur. Only when one of the men began to saw through his leg, did Gaara react, flinching and burying his head into Naruto's chest.

He moaned when he heard the man cry out in pain and shivered as Naruto's warm breath ghosted his neck. "Shh… it's okay. It's okay."

Gaara fisted the material of Naruto's shirt as he forced himself to turn around, but quickly retreated back. "That's… disgusting." He looked up to Naruto. "I can't believe you actually got me to watch this."

Naruto grinned and leant down to capture his lips in a soft kiss. "Well," he said. "I don't want you to be afraid of something you see everyday."

The redhead blushed as Naruto's warm hand crept up his shirt. It briefly brushed over his nipple to lay over his heart. "See? You're cured. It's still just a psychological thing."

Gaara rested his own hand over his heart and was surprised to feel that it was beating at a regular pace. He sighed and rested against Naruto. Perhaps the blonde had a calming effect on him. He decided to brave his fear and shifted to watch the rest of 'Saw'. Now there was this random dead person in the middle of the room. The guy who had cut his leg off was gone, but his foot was still there.

_Man, I wish I could be like Jigsaw, ya know? I already rule over you soooo well. I am a true sadist, yeah? I absolutely _LOVE_ seeing you all shaky and crying like a baby. It gives me _such_ great pleasure. I guess it gives you pleasure as well, hmm? Being dominated by me? _

_I said shut the fuck up. _Gaara snapped in his mind. He hated that voice. That mocking voice that told him the truth, no matter how harsh it was.

"Gaara?" Naruto snapped him out of his angered haze. "Don't just let it do that to you. You have to learn how to fight back."

Gaara didn't bother asking Naruto what he meant. The blonde had a way of seeing into his mind, guessing his next actions, reading his thoughts. Instead he sighed and muttered a quiet "I try."

"If you're wondering," Naruto said aloud. "Your face reveals a lot. Only someone who's been through the same thing could read your face."

Gaara knew Naruto was admitting that he went through something similar in his childhood under his words. He knew that Naruto was not a happy person, but knew how to control his emotions in such a way that it gave the illusion of no negative feelings. But in a way, Gaara could see through Naruto's mask. Just like he could see through his.

"Earth to Gaara…" Naruto called, waving his hand in front of his face. "You've been staring at the screen for more than a minute, and you haven't blinked once." He moved in front of the redhead and looked him dead in the eye. "The movie ended! I thought you would be cheering and smiling now, but here you are, totally silent."

Gaara blinked back to reality and stared into Naruto's eyes. "Is the movie over?"

Naruto laughed and reached out to tousle his hair. "Come on, you emotionless rock, let's go to bed." He ignored Gaara's indigent grumble as he picked him up and carried him bridal style to the bedroom.

Gaara sighed and felt himself relax into the bed sheets. Watching the movie had drained a lot out of him some how and now all he wanted to do was sleep. But _it_ wasn't letting him sleep.

_Woo… that was a fucking awesome movie, best I've, _you've_, every seen in my life, well your life, but what the heck, I could learn a few things from Jigsaw. _

The redhead ignored the voice and waited as Naruto went into the bathroom to, by the sound of it, to take a shower. Gaara wiped the forming sweat on his brow as it continued its onslaught.

('Gaara's thoughts')

_So, it's you and me now. While he's in the shower, why don't we have a little one-on-one? Heh?_

_'…fine.'_

_I know you like it. I know you like _him._ He makes you feel doesn't he? Well, I think sticking with him might be a good thing._

_'Why don't you just mind your own business?'_

_Your business is my business, neh? Look, kid. I've done my best with you since that happened, but ya gotta make your own choices_

_'What do you mean?'_

_I mean-_

"Ya wanna use the shower, Gaara?" Naruto asked from the door, shirtless with his blonde spiky hair was slightly damp. Gaara snapped out of his thoughts and nodded, still thinking about its words. As he walked past Naruto, the blonde's hand latched onto his arm.

Gaara tilted his head as Naruto looked him into the eye.

"Don't take too long, okay?"

The redhead nodded again. It felt as if his brain had shut down. He couldn't speak. But it wasn't like not speaking was unusual for him. He walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him, breathing deeply.

_Kid, take a look at yourself in the mirror. You look like shit._

_'Well I feel like shit, so shut up.' _But the voice was right. His reflection stared warily back at him, as if it was another person. Gaara ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. It was almost as if he was breaking apart. He took a quick shower, and decided to just stay in his clothes. He dried his hair with the towel and looked at his reflection again. He noticed the line Naruto had cut on his cheek was fading away. Almost gone, but still there as a reminder.

Even though Gaara didn't mean to, he looked desperate. He needed…

_Kid, don't do it. Don't you fucking do it. He'll go psycho._

_'You can't tell me what to do. You don't exist.' _Gaara blocked the voice out of his head and reached into his pocket. Ever since he'd met Naruto, he'd been so distracted, paranoid, that…

_Don't even think about it. Do you want to die?!_

_'…I think I do.' _He held the blade steady in his hand and pressed it lightly against his left arm. He exhaled and pressed it harder until a thin line appeared.

It was starting to sting now. Gaara closed his eyes and let the cool blade rest against his skin. He felt the blood tickle his skin as it oozed out of the wound.

_You idiot. _And the voice disappeared. Gaara watched the blood flow and was surprised he no longer felt afraid. But deep inside, he knew he still was.

* * *

Thought I was gonna cut off here? Nope! You guys deserve a bit more, so technically making this a continuation of the chapter.

I'm so nice yeah? Yeah?!

...nah, you're right, I'm a mean selfish bitch. Oh well.

* * *

Gaara pulled his sleeve lower and avoided looking up as he walked back into the bedroom. But Naruto wasn't there. He sighed in relief and sat down on the edge of the bed.

The redhead looked up at the ceiling and traced the cut on his arm. He sighed again and closed his eyes, enjoying the emptiness, the fact that Naruto wasn't there with his all-knowing smile and those bright eyes. _'What? No goading?'_

_Just want you to know that you need to let go. Accept. But I don't exist. _And the voice faded away accusingly.

Gaara opened his eyes and was met with the brilliant blue he was so afraid of.

Naruto tilted his head. He stared down at Gaara. "What's wrong?" He knew. He always knew.

Gaara felt his mouth go dry. His palms became sweaty and he unconsciously moved backwards on the bed as Naruto leaned closer, nose-to-nose. "N-nothing! What could be wrong?"

The blonde pushed Gaara so he landed on his back and pinned his arms down. "Why, Gaara?" Naruto's eye's sparkled brightly as if he found it funny.

His breathing became irregular as Naruto traced a line up his neck with his tongue. He tried to pull away, but Naruto was strong. "Ngh… n-no, there's nothing wrong! I swear!"

Naruto pulled back but still held him down. "You swear? On what?" Naruto grabbed Gaara around the neck and squeezed lightly. He leaned forward and nipped at the shell of the redhead's ear. "Your life?"

Gaara felt the tears form and he began to thrash around. Naruto let him go and he scrambled back and regretted the choice when his back brushed the wall the bed was against. "I'm s-sorry!" he choked out and trembled as Naruto pulled at the sleeve covering his arm and revealed the red line. It was now bleeding again from the sudden movements.

Naruto tilted his head and licked the wound slowly with his tongue. (Vampire much?) He moved closer to Gaara again, still holding his arm and whispered into his ear. "I wonder what you were thinking, doing this. Were you trying to hurt me?"

The redhead moved his other free arm and tried to pry the blonde's fingers, which were now beginning to hurt his arm. The tears were starting to run down his face from the pain and the fear. "I didn't mean to! It's your fault!"

It was silent.

The blonde's face was blank, but his eyes were still as bright as they had ever been. Gaara took a deep breath. He couldn't stop now. "You were- you made me so scared- I," he drew in a quiet sob and hung his head. "I don't know… I'm sorry."

Naruto offered no words. But he still hadn't let go. He stared Gaara right in the eyes before blinking slowly. "Are you giving up?"

"What?"

"Do you want to know why I let you live?" Naruto suddenly asked, releasing Gaara but not moving away. He didn't wait for the reply. "I turned you around and gave you the choice to go. And you went. I was so happy. Everyone else gave up. They didn't even try. It's not very fun if they don't try."

Gaara shivered. Was he all just part of a game?

Naruto gave him his answer. "This _game_ we all play, sometimes, just sometimes, we play for keeps, while the other times, we just let the people decide where all the pieces move. I am glad that you left." He tilted his head. "I just wish the others did too." The blonde moved away completely and left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

Gaara released the breath he was holding all that time. When he was certain Naruto was gone, he slowly slid down and lay with his back to the wall.

_At least he didn't kill you. I was sure he would._

The redhead ignored the voice and blinked slowly as he heard shuffling in the kitchen. He heard something slide across the ground and Naruto say something, but the door muffled it. Gaara listened again as he heard the main door (the door that leads into the hallways) open and shut. Naruto had left.

_So what are you going to do now? _The voice inside his head asked him. _He took your key. You're trapped. But when have you not been?_

* * *

And STOP! I'm sooooooooo sorry but i'm afraid I've lost my dark side. SHIT WHERE D'YA GO?!

But the good thing is that I'm gonna continue School Days! I'm renaming it the Super Subaku Twins

BUT...

I'm changing it completely! Will be NejixGaara but Pain will still be in it with my OC as Gaara's twin sis. So read!

Review this? Help me find my dark side?

Ja ne? (i've never really known what it means, tell me?)


	7. Chapter 7

Hey there folks. I won't be able to update for a while but I'll try my best to update at least twice a month. School's back and it's being a bitch. Oh well. I kinda got my dark side back thanks to watching PewDiePie playing his horror games on youtube, but it also got more fic ideas in my mind that don't relate to Sly Fox. I NEED THE PLOT NOT NEW IDEAS. Goodness. So I've got shitloads of floating plot bunnies around, if you guys need one, just PM me and I'll give it to you. You need only ask.

About this chapter, it gets a bit confusing in Naruto's parts, because he thinks differently. There will be mentions of things here but i won't go into too much detail until it actually comes up.

Thank you guys for sticking with me even though I've been completely unreliable.

I don't own Naruto, okay?

* * *

CHAPTER SEVEN

Naruto knocked against Hinata's door. He knew that she would be there. He turned his head around to look at room nine behind him and smiled softly.

And his assumption was correct; there she was with her dark hair and pale eyes. She looked up at him and tilted her head. "Oh, Gaara's friend!"

Naruto smiled casually. "I never got to introduce myself properly, did I?" he held his hand out for her to shake. "Kyuubi Namikaze."

"Namikaze…" Hinata mused as she shook the blonde's hand. "Hinata Hyuuga, nice to meet you. Would you like to come in?"

Naruto accepted and allowed the dark-haired woman to usher him inside. When he was first here, he analyzed the woman. Now, his second time, he would analyze the apartment.

The blonde noted the bright pictures in the picture frames placed on top of the television. There was a man, who looked like Hinata, but his hair was a more brown then black. "Cousin?" Naruto gestured to the picture as Hinata prepared some tea.

"Oh!" The woman exclaimed and taking the picture in her hands. "Yes, that's my cousin. Neji Hyuuga. I don't get to see him very often…"

"Does he work in the police force?"

Hinata turned to him, surprised. "Y-yes!" She looked at him with subtle suspiciousness. "How d-did you know?"

Naruto smiled easily. He leaned back on the couch and looked up at the ceiling. "I used to work as one. I can recognize an officer anywhere."

The Huuyga poured him some tea and handed him the cup, warning that it would be very hot. The blonde nodded and carefully set it on the coffee table. He observed the rest of the photos. He could almost see them as films, moving in their frames. The man frowning as the woman threw rusty autumn leaves at him, and then laughing before hugging him. He felt the pang in his heart and felt the urge, to… to…

"Did you know him?" Hinata asked, breaking his thoughts.

Naruto thought about the question. How to answer the little question, the simple, little question. "No, I didn't." he decided, holding eye contact with the dark-haired woman. _'The two share the same eyes…' _Naruto noted. "Is he a good officer?"

"Oh yes," Hinata breathed. "Senior Detective. He doesn't really do any fieldwork. Never liked going on the frontlines, he says."

"You say that as if you know what it's like to be a cop." Naruto mused.

The dark-haired woman laughed. "You're very perspective, aren't you?" Naruto noticed that she had not answered his question, but it wasn't necessary, he already knew the answer. Hinata poured some tea for herself, blew on it before taking a light sip. "So why isn't Gaara with you?"

The corners of Naruto's mouth twitched upwards slightly. "He's not feeling too well."

The Hyuuga nodded, looking concerned. "I noticed that he was rather pale the last time I saw him." She looked down and muttered something under her breath that the blonde failed to catch. She straightened up and looked Naruto directly in the eye, pale grey meeting sapphire blue. "Take care of him, alright? He's…"

Naruto inclined his head. "I will." He closed his eyes and sipped the tea, now lukewarm, but still quite bitter. He thought it suited how he was feeling right now, slightly resentful at the past that was connected to the present events.

The two remained silent as they drank their tea. It was almost funny how much they knew but couldn't say. If only _he_ could see it.

* * *

_'I can't find the fucking key.' _Gaara thought desperately as he tore through the living room.

_Uzumaki took it, fool._

_'I have a spare around here, I thought _you_ would know that.'_

_Uzumaki took that one as well. You hid it in the most obvious of places._ The voice chided.

Gaara collapsed in defeat against the wall and found himself chuckling quietly. Naruto had thought of everything, hadn't he? And it looked like the blonde was not going to let him leave. But Gaara had already decided that he would leave, he _had_ to, just to get some fresh air.

_That's why they invented windows, fool._

"That's it!" Gaara exclaimed softly before getting up and placing his hands on the windowsill and looking down at the passing cars. It wasn't too late; it was one of those nights everyone went out for dinner or something; couples and families walked by, across the road to the row of restaurants that let out delicious aromas whenever the door opened. Gaara couldn't smell them from his apartment, but could certainly remember them from when he used to walk past the restaurants. Maybe if he opened his window a bit…

_'What if he set some sort of trap?'_

_You're too young to be paranoid. Just open the fucking window and be happy._

His fingers cold from the gaps in the windowsills, the redhead tugged it open. He felt the cool blast of air mingled with smog with an underlying with some of the rich food smells from the restaurants. Gaara stuck his head out and sighed as a night breeze brushed against his face. Not enough. He had to get out.

The window was pretty big. Dusty, with the center cracked from the impact of a stupid bird, but still pretty big. Big enough for him to go through it. _'It's too high up though. I want to leave in one piece, thank you very much.'_ Instead, Gaara climbed on to the ledge and sat down with his back against the vertical frame. The palm of his hand connected with something sharp and he withdrew it from the ledge quickly, but realised it was just some paint that had dried in an awkward way. Avoiding it, he moved his hand to let it drop out the window and move with the breeze, not realizing it was bleeding slightly. _'But this could still be an option. It's not too big a drop.' _He drew his knee up to his chest and felt jealous of whoever got to live on floor would have been easier to escape from there.

Sighing regretfully, Gaara looked down at the street below and had a sudden urge to…

Fall.

Frowning, Gaara went back inside the living room and shook his head. Must be the fumes from the cars and city pollution. He took a few more steps back and scowled when the feeling still remained. He strode over to the window and closed it, causing a sharp _crack_ when the window connected with the bottom of the frame.

_'Shit.' _The redhead checked on the window and sighed in relief when there was no crack. He didn't need Naruto to find out that the window was a possible escape route, but knowing him, the blonde probably already knew about it and left it because it was too high up.

Suddenly, his head pounded and feeling nauseous, fell on his hands and knees and panted when the room seemed so hot, then so cold, as if someone was blasting an air conditioner and a heater simultaneously into his face. His arms felt like jelly and he gave up trying to hold himself up. _'What…'_

_So that was all it took to trigger? _

Gaara growled and rolled onto his back, eyeing the dark spots on his ceiling apprehensively. _'What was that?'_

The voice in his mind suddenly felt extensive, echoing off the walls off the room, even though it had said nothing. The room darkened and the noise from the traffic outside subsided to a gentle wave.

_So you really don't remember._

_'Remember what?!' _Gaara shouted in his head and rubbed his eyes as whatever it was pounded away in his head. _'Do I have any medicine for this?'_

_Uzumaki hid it all after your little suicidal attempt._

_'He's already made it clear. I don't think I'm going to try it again. It's like he can see how guilty I really am. Or maybe he could smell the blood.'_

_Perhaps. After all, he did guess it was a woman after you came back from the Laundromat._

_'He's just very… perceptive. Wait…' _Gaara ignored the sounds from outside and listened intently. The walls of the apartment weren't exactly the thickest and allowed a talented eavesdropper to listen to clear conversations, although they were very quiet. Unfortunately, he wasn't a talented eavesdropper and gave up.

_What?_

_'Hinata…'_ The name sparked something in his mind. He blinked as he remembered something calling it with a laugh, which was then followed by a nervous quiet one, vaguely reminiscent of the pale-eyed woman living across the hall.

_What about her? Don't tell me you fancy her._

_'No, it's just, who was Naruto talking to outside? Hinata's the only other room in the hallway. So it must have been Hinata he was talking to.'_

_And your point is?_ The voice sounded annoyed and uncaring. Well, it _was_ just a voice in his head.

_'Why is it so quiet now?'_ At this realisation, Gaara shot up, ignoring the headache and reached for the door knob, only to remember Naruto had locked him inside. _'So that was why he locked the door…'_

He could almost see a face rolling its eyes. _You're getting paranoid. But he's a sly one, if they find her, they'll blame it all on you because you are the only other person on the third floor._

_'Maybe I am getting paranoid. Maybe he's just going over for a chat.'_

The voice gave a sigh and Gaara could almost imagine a face looking at him knowingly. _Talk to him when he gets back. That stunt you pulled did something to him. Go apologize._

_'IF he gets back.' _Gaara corrected. He then sighed and leant against the wall. _'I did that already. It didn't do shit. I don't think he even cares. He's playing with me, I know it.' _Gaara ran his cold fingers through his hair and eyed the door desperately. His headache was still throbbing, in a way as if he had hit his head against a hard surface. But he knew he hadn't. It was just the loud _crack_ of the window hitting the windowsill that triggered it. Strange though, normally loud noises just made him wince and cover his ears, not give him a migraine.

The redhead closed his eyes and felt a wave of nausea wash over him. It wasn't very pleasant when he rushed to the bathroom and gagged as the vomit burned the back of his throat. Eventually, he managed to calm the urges to bring everything up onto the bathroom tiles and labeled that the cause of the migraine was because he was hungry. But he currently didn't _feel_ very hungry, he just felt paranoid. Gaara decided that watching the television would take his mind off the hunger. After all, watching the television would get him up to date on everything that was happening, while Naruto kept him locked up like a prisoner. Gaara was pretty surprised when he felt his headache worsen slightly at the thought of his name.

Shaking his head, he staggered out the bathroom and crumpled onto the couch gratefully. Fishing the remote from under the coffee table, he flicked it on and blinked a few times to adjust to the brightness of the screen. Sighing as he passed the channels made of static, Gaara thumbed the channel button until it reached the news one.

Gaara watched in interest as they discussed a bombing somewhere outside the city, supposedly a C-4 which managed to destroy half of the small countryside town.

"People are unsure of how and why something like this would happen to such a small, quaint town in the country, but some witnesses are able to give a description of who may have been behind the bombing." The reporter announced gravely, her hair trailing behind her as an apparent light breeze toyed through the area.

The screen cut to a man who spoke of the event. "It was horrible, I was sitting on the porch, just watching the neighbors water the plants, and then there was this huge _boom_ and suddenly everything was up in flames."

The reporter nodded worryingly. "Did you happen to see someone suspicious around before or during the bombing?"

The man nodded. "Yeah, there was this one guy who was passing through the town to get from the city, blonde with these bright blue eyes as if-

Gaara turned the television off. He didn't exactly need another reminder of Naruto right now. This was really starting to bother him. He had to get his mind off all this. But there was no one to talk to, no one he could talk to that wouldn't turn him in for harboring the current most wanted man in the country.

_'What do I do? I have no one. No one at all.'_

And so he waited.

* * *

Naruto drank the tea and noted how Hinata was staring at him intently as if to ask him to start a conversation. The blonde placed the cup delicately on the table before turning to the woman next to him and tilting his head. "So Hinata-chan," he started, planning how the conversation would go. "I heard from Gaara that you recently moved here."

It may have not been a question, but Hinata treated it as such. "Oh yes! I was living with my family but because I'm twenty now, I decided to move out. Father's a bit of a prune now, but he deserved to have some time alone after looking after Neji and me for so long. Neji moved out too, but he's staying with friends." She looked down, and although her dark hair covered her face from view, Naruto could see the sadness in her eyes. "But I've lost all my connections ever since…"

Naruto smiled and gently patter her hand. "It's okay. You have me and Gaara as friends!"

The Hyuuga smiled back and took another sip of tea from her cup. "Thank you very much." She poured some more tea for both of them before continuing. "But you've obviously heard a lot about me, Kyuubi-kun, what about you? I recall you mentioning that you travel around a bit." She seemed faintly jealous of the fact. "How is the 'outside' world?"

Naruto chuckled lightly at her curious tone. But he continued seriously. "The world… is an interesting place. I may have travelled a lot, but there is still a lot to see. I don't believe I'll even live long enough to see it all.

"Oh." Was all Hinata said. She blew on her steaming cup before proceeding. "That crushes my dream of travelling." She joked, giggling as the blonde apologized profusely for crushing her dreams.

"The economy is getting rather difficult nowadays. It's really expensive to go anywhere much now." Naruto remarked. "I guess I'm going to be stuck here a bit before I can get moving again. Not enough money." He glanced at the dark-haired woman. "You know any jobs I could take that aren't too physically tiring but should get me good pay?"

Hinata considered the question. "What about working as a detective on the current Uzumaki case?"

Ah. This.

"I'm not that smart, Hinata-chan." Naruto chided lightly.

Hinata laughed and nudged Naruto in the arm. "Nonsense! You've already worked as a police officer before!" Suddenyl, she stopped laughing and closed up. "Unless…" she paused and looked into his eyes. "Why did you leave the police force?"

The blonde was about to answer before Hinata cut him off. "No, it's alright. You don't have to answer."

Naruto acknowledged the question, but decided to elaborate on his previous answer. "But I'm not sure about working as a detective. I might get in the way. Besides, I wouldn't fit in; after all, I'm not from around here." He said with feigned sadness.

"That's all right, you work the case with me!" Hinata exclaimed before realizing what she had just said.

The blonde mentally smirked as she stuttered and went a bit pink, and pretended the slip had not happened. But he had heard it all.

"Do you work as a detective for the police force, Hinata-chan?"

The Hyuuga stuttered a bit before answering. "Y-yes. Um…" She looked around desperately before making contact with the clock in her open kitchen. "Oh! I have t-to go now and help out at the building." She was obviously implying that he leave immediately, which Naruto believed was because she had revealed too much. The blonde, however, did not pry and thanked her for letting him come over.

Hinata got up and pulled on her jacket and grabbed her laptop case resting on a chair and apologized for the short and sudden interruption.

"You have to go this late at night?" Naruto mused. "That's horrible. Don't you get tired? I did too when I worked an officer."

"Ah haha, yes, I guess I do." The dark-haired woman nervously laughed as they walked to the door. She held it open and let the blonde leave first. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow morning, Kyuubi-kun." She said, her face reddening, locking the door to hide her face before rushing down the dark hallway and took the stairs down. She peeked her head around before she disappeared from view and waved, before continuing down.

The blonde watched her go emotionlessly. He considered what to do now that he had confirmed it _was_ her. He couldn't risk it that he was temporarily living across from one of the police department. Smiling, he turned around and unlocked Gaara's door and let himself in before locking the door behind him. He found the redhead sitting on the couch looking quite distraught. It was so cute to see him turn around with those scared eyes. It hurt him a bit, that he didn't know then, but at least he knew now.

"Hello, Gaara." Naruto said. He glided quickly to him and sat down next to the redhead. "Was it a bit hot in here?" Naruto asked casually. "Is that why you tried to open the window?"

The blonde could almost see the gears in Gaara's mind turning as he realised the temperature of the room had dropped.

Gaara looked at him and shrugged. Naruto noted that he was holding the remote for the television in his hands rather tightly, as if he had just watched something horrible. "Can… we go outside?"

The blonde glanced at him. Gaara was acting distant, choosing not to reveal too much. How smart of him. But he should know by now that he could see it all. "Sure, what about we get something to eat?"

The redhead nodded and got off the couch and wandered away to get his coat. Naruto watched him go and saw that the palm of his hand was bleeding. Although he was already in the other room before he could get another look, the blonde knew what had caused it. Standing up, he went to the window and ran his finger along the ledge. Finding the sharp protrusion, he leaned down and spotted a bit of blood on the tip. Most likely Gaara's. So he was here. Naruto knew from the height that Gaara wouldn't dare jump, the concrete below wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing to land on; but he was concerned for what it may have triggered. If Gaara wanted to be outside, he would have stayed by the window and looked extremely guilty when Naruto came in, but instead, he had a somewhat strained and confused look on his face. Perhaps he had triggered _that…_

Naruto's musings were over when Gaara came back, with his coat on and the same confused look on his face. It was fading now to be replaced with a blank slate that made it hard for Naruto to guess what he was thinking. It wasn't too concerning: the redhead's actions tonight would reveal all.

"Shall we go have a look at the restaurants across the street?" Naruto asked, pulling his own coat on. "I'll pay, so you might as well choose a good one."

Gaara looked at him thoughtfully. He moved closer to Naruto and held his hand, squeezing it like a lifeline. "Okay. Thank you." He said quietly and let Naruto handle the door and lead him down the stairs. "Where did you go?"

The blonde heard how tentatively the question was asked, and therefore answered it as mildly as he could. He could see that Gaara was withdrawing again, he didn't need that, after all they did for him, he really didn't need him to do that again. "Oh, just had a chat with her. Did you know she works as a detective?"

Gaara jolted and stared at Naruto. "Is she looking for you?"

"Presumably."

"But she- but you were right there! Didn't she know it was you?" They had stopped walking now, stopping on the landing of floor two. Gaara was looking very distressed at the fact that Naruto had been talking with the woman.

Naruto chuckled and ruffled Gaara's hair. "You were always the paranoid one." He turned and continued to lead him down the stairs, not saying another word. _'You were paranoid after you did all that…' _Naruto considered. He was regretful that he hadn't been there for him. He still owed the redhead 'that', but he had almost gone before he could do anything himself.

They left the apartment building and walked across the street to the row of bright restaurants lining the street. Naruto smiled as Gaara pulled on his arm and guided him to a bright French restaurant, but instead of pulling him, he stopped and looked up at Naruto. "I'm not really that hungry. If you want to eat, it's fine, I'll go with you."

"Nah, I'm not really that hungry either." Naruto replied, loving how Gaara clung to his arm. He looked up and down the street. "How about we just walk around? We only have about an hour left before the police tell everyone to go back." He leaned down to whisper in Gaara's ear. "We don't want to get caught, do we?" Naruto watched the redhead shiver and nod.

The pair walked past all the restaurants slowly, savoring the smells that came from them, but ignored the urge to go inside. Soon they were passing night clubs and pubs that had tough bouncers eyeing them apprehensively as they passed. Before long, they reached the brightly lit city square where the majority of people were after having their dinner. "You have a very good apartment. Close to everything." Naruto remarked. "Was it expensive?"

Gaara shrugged. "Not really. The city council was planning to knock it down before someone decided to keep it as a cheap residential area for university students or something like that. The university is around here too, so leaving the apartment there would be convenient."

"Is that so?" Naruto asked. He was going to continue when he felt the familiar presence of _him._ As they passed, the man moved close to him and whispered something queit, but it sounded like a shout in his ear.

"We're failing."

And with that, he moved away, blending with the crowd. The night was too dark too see where he went, but the lights around the city square were bright enough for Naruto to see the back of his head. He scoffed and continued to let Gaara walk him around the square, occasionally saying something that fell on deaf ears.

So they were failing, hm? Him, the one that always bested him, the one that was always better, the one that got everything, was failing? Naruto bit back a laugh but still felt concerned for those he was putting at risk. It wasn't his fault though, he _owed_ him, after all he did for him. It wasn't like he didn't like doing it, in fact he loved it, loved feeling the rush and seeing their pleading but useless faces as the blood drained from them until they became still corpses. They wanted it, begged him for it, for their frail beings could not take anymore of the beautiful confusion he brought with him. After all, he did not have the face of a murderer. Naruto tsked those that judged books by their cover.

"Do you want to go back now?" Gaara asked, pulling Naruto back to reality.

The blonde smiled down at him. "Sure. You know the way back?"

Gaara nodded. Naruto paid attention to the path the redhead took. He was taking a shortcut, walking them through side streets of residential blocks. They didn't pass many people here, just the occasional beggar. He contemplated it when Gaara passed the hospital without a second glance, but he felt the hand on his arm tighten slightly. _'So he has truly forgotten it all, but the sight triggered something in his subconscious memory, didn't it...'_ Naruto thought as Gaara tugged him around a corner and soon they were standing at the corner of the street full of restaurants. This time, there were some police officers wondering around, and Gaara shot Naruto a desperate look and dragged him quickly across the street and back into the apartment building. This was when the redhead tugged at his arm and did not let go when they were finally back in the living room.

"That was close." Gaara muttered before collapsing on the couch and falling asleep instantly.

Naruto watched him. As he had always done.

* * *

Geez, Naruto's such a creeeeeeeeeepy stalker. It's scary.

Well, some questions that have yet to be answered, but they will be! Rest assured I'll try my best to do the next chapter.

Good night! I'm so tired right now. _


	8. Author's Note (A slightly bad one?)

_Okay folks. Read from Chapter One._

_But I haven't exactly finished... just got impatient... is all... yeah..._

_I hope you like it. By changing it, I've accidentally made the plot do a ninety degree turn, still the same, but with a bit of stuff thrown in._

_And to those of you who are slowly getting angrier at my procrastination, just listen to this:_

**_AT LEAST I UPDATED IT. _**

_Thank you._


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